The temples in Jaipur razed during Vasundhara Raje government in 2015 are officially a poll issue. Ahead of the Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s visit on Saturday, Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sachin Pilot questioned the BJP stand on the demolition of scores of temples, some of them centuries old, to clear way for the Metro project.
Pilot called out the hypocrisy of the BJP-ruled government in Rajasthan claiming the chief minister who visits temples to rid the state of natural calamities and launch her poll campaign, doesn’t blink while ordering the demolition of temples in Jaipur.
“The BJP leaders who are choosing to remark on AICC president Rahul Gandhi’s temple visit in Jaipur should first answer the people where they were when the temples in their backyard were being brutally pulled down,” Pilot said.
In 2015, the state government is believed to have razed down some 100-odd temples in Jaipur, including one of the most revered Rozgareshwer Temple at Choti Chaupar. These temples were bulldozed for Metro works and clearing the obstacles in way of the project. Backed by RSS, Hindu outfits had held a chakka jam in the city protesting against demolition of temples, in which ruling party MLAs had also taken part.
Pilot’s comments come as a response to comments by BJP leaders who are accusing Gandhi of faking his Hindutva tag by visiting temples in Jaipur. Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to kick off the party’s poll campaign in Rajasthan from Jaipur on Saturday, August 11. He is expected to seek the blessings of Moti Dungri and Govind Dev Ji temples in Jaipur before addressing the party rank and file.
An aggressive Congress launched the scathing attack on the BJP-ruled government and its leaders who had questioned the sudden awakening of Hindutva in the Congress president. “The chief minister (Raje) claims that she has tutored Rahul Gandhi into attending temples. Then she must also elaborate who taught her to demolish temples,” Pilot said in a statement.
The Congress claimed that the BJP government is not answering its questions that have been raised on the spending of huge public money on bring out the rath yatra that is currently underway. The party office bearers said that the government and the chief minister may choose not to respond to their questions, but the people will answer them in the upcoming polls.
DNA had in its story dated August 10, reported that the ruling party could face a dent if the Congress rakes up the issue of temple demolition in Walled City as the matter is still fresh in the minds of the residents who were extremely upset over the bulldozers dismantling and desecrating their temples. Congress, on the other hand, is looking to toe its national policy of ‘Soft Hindutva’, a model which has been fruitful in the assembly elections in Gujarat and Karnataka.
What BJP says
We taught the Congress to go to the temple and also conduct the Tiranga Yatra. Going to the temple by Congress President is a political stunt. “I challenge Congress to show such a picture before the Gujarat elections in which their national president has gone to the temple. Rahul has started visiting the temples since polls were conducted for Gujarat assembly.
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