UP temple 'purified' after Muslim MLA's visit

Members of Hindu outfits sprinkled water from the Ganga all over a temple in Uttar Pradesh's Siddharth Nagar district on Monday, 27 November, to 'purify' it after a Muslim MLA visited the shrine.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) legislator from Domariaganj, Saiyada Khatoon, said that she was invited by the administration of the Samya Mata temple in Balwa village, of Siddharth Nagar district, to attend an event on Sunday.

After the Ram Katha event, the chairman of the local panchayat and members of some other Hindu organisations visited the temple on Monday, sprinkled Gangajal, recited the Hanuman Chalisa and shouted slogans against Khatoon, the police said.

Dharmaraj Verma, chairman of the Barhni Chafa Nagar panchayat, said, “Samya Mata mandir is a centre of faith for devotees. People throng the temple with a dedication that was disrespected by the local MLA. She is non-vegetarian and her visit affected the sanctity of the place.”

He was accompanied by members of different Hindu organisations, including Santosh Paswan, Mithlesh Pandey, Vijai Madhesia and Pramod Gautam.

Verma said that he sprinkled Gangajal through the temple to 'purify' it.

Domariaganj circle officer Sujit Kumar Rai said that a police team was patrolling the area to avert the possibility of any communal confrontations, adding that they have not received any formal complaint in connection with the incident. “We will take appropriate action if a complaint is filed in this regard,” he said.

Rai also said that local villagers had constituted an organising committee for the Ram Katha, headed by Shrikant Shukla as secretary and Pujari Prasad, head priest of the temple, and had invited the SP leader.

“We are inquiring into the incident and keeping a close eye on the development,” said superintendent of police, Siddharth Nagar, Abhishek Kumar Agarwal.

Khatoon said, “I respect all religions. Moreover, I am a public representative. Be it a temple or a mosque, I will surely go there if I am invited.”

The renovation of various temples in the area was funded by her MLA's local area development fund, she added.

This is not the first time that such an incident has happened at a temple in Uttar Pradesh.

In 2018, a temple in Hamirpur district was 'purified' with water from the Ganga after a Dalit woman lawmaker, from the Bharatiya Janata Party, entered the temple. The impurity was her caste, rather than her diet, in that case.