Advani mum on razing of 297 Gandhinagar temples

BJP’s prime ministerial candidate and party’s Lok Sabha candidate from Gandhinagar LK Advani, who recently reiterated BJP’s promise to build Ram temple in Ayodhya, may face anger of voters in his constituency. The reason: More than 290 temples have been demolished by Narendra Modi-led BJP government in the state.

In November last, the government demolished 297 temples which were on public land. Thousands of local citizens protested against the temple demolition drive but a firm state government refused to apply brakes on the campaign. Local citizens at that time had expected that Advani would win over Modi and would convince him to stop the demolition work but the local MP never showed his displeasure against Modi’s ‘blitzkrieg’. Till now, Advani has not uttered a single word of sympathy neither has promised to rebuild the demolished temples.

Expressing his displeasure over Advani’s silence on the issue, Manaji Modi, president and managing trusty of now demolished Saibaba temple, said, “People will raise the issue of 297 demolished temples and seek Advani’s response as he has once again promised to build Ram temple in Ayodhya. Advani has committed a major mistake by not protecting the temples of Gandhinagar. He does not know how it hurt our sentiments and people will show their anger with their votes during the forthcoming elections. Recently, we had convened meetings of devotees where we all decided to vote against Advani.”

Congress candidate against Advani for Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat and Kalol MLA Suresh Patel said, “During my campaigns, I’ll raise the issue of temple demolition and Advani’s silence on the issue. Everyone expects at least few words of sympathy from him.”