Akhilesh condemns deployment of cops in priests' attire at Kashi temple

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday, 11 April, demanded suspension of the officer, who ordered to deploy cops in the attire of priests at the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi, and termed the act as condemnable.

The male and female policemen have been deployed in the temple in priests attire on the orders of Varanasi police commissioner Mohit Agarwal. While the male policemen are wearing dhoti-kurta, the female policemen are wearing salwar kurta.

Questioning this system, Yadav in a post on X said, "According to which 'police manual' is it correct for policemen to be dressed as priests? Those who give such orders should be suspended. If tomorrow any 'thag' (fraudster) takes advantage of this and loots the innocent public, then what will the UP government and administration answer? Condemnable!".

He also posted a 35-second video of a news report on his handle.

Agarwal had earlier told reporters that people who come from far away places to have obeisance have regard for the priests and they often got hurt if they are pushed forward by the policemen.

"The duty in the temple is different from other places as police have to manage different types of crowds here. The crowd here is not for creating law and order problems. The police are here to ensure easy darshan to people and help and guide them," Agarwal said.

"The devotees get hurt if being pushed by policemen, if the same thing is done by priests they take it positively. Following no-touch policy, policemen are being deployed in priests attire," he added.