LUCKNOW: At a time when a debate is on over entry of women in some temples in the country, and the Supreme Court is hearing a number of cases, ‘purification’ of a temple following a woman MLA’s visit has triggered a controversy in Hamirpur district of UP.
According to sources, BJP legislator from Raath, Manisha Anuragi, visited village Muskara Khurd in her constituency earlier this month to distribute stationary in a school. In the village, there is an ashram and a temple of Dhoomra Rishi, a saint of the mythical Mahabharat era.
As per local belief, the saint doesn’t like the presence of women inside the temple and curses the region with drought and famine of four decades if his wish is not honoured. Notably, Hamirpur is witnessing heavy rains nowadays.
During the MLA’s visit, the villagers offered to take her to the ashram. She climbed the temple platform to have a darshan of the saint. This scared the villagers, but no one said anything to her.
After Anuragi left, the jittery villagers cleaned the ashram and temple premises with Ganga jal.
A panchayat meeting was called immediately and it was decided to take a model of the saint’s idol for a holy dip in the river Ganga at Sangam in Allahabad.
“I take pity on the wisdom of those who cleaned the temple. This is an insult to all women and is against the spirit of the Constitution,” reacted Anuragi.