NEW DELHI: With the appearance of a make-shift Hanuman temple in Chandni Chowk area, the politics of fanning religious sentiments has once again taken centre stage in Delhi. With bypolls for five municipal bodies slated to be held at the end of this month, both Aam Aadmi Party and Bhartiya Janata Party are trying to use the incident to gain some mileage.
While BJP state president Adesh Gupta on Friday visited the temporary structure and offered prayers along with North MCD Mayor Jai Prakash, AAP MCD election in-charge Durgesh Pathak said he too would visit the site.
Gupta said Kejriwal government got the temple demolished even though the CM calls himself a Hanuman devotee and therefore he should personally go there for forgiveness. "The faith of thousands of people from this area was linked to this temple. Now, people will again start getting Lord Hanuman’s blessings and in times to come the recital of Hanuman chalisa will start again," said Gupta after his visit.
Earlier, both the AAP and the BJP had attacked each other over the demolition of the temple based on a Delhi High Court order. BJP put the blame on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s government for "hurting religious sentiments", while the AAP said that it was the BJP-ruled MCD to be blamed for failing to protect the temple from demolition in Chandni Chowk area.
Durgesh Pathak, who has been taking on the BJP leadership in the civic bodies, said he would also visit the temple and pray for world peace. "Everyone has the right to pray at the temple. The local people of Chandni Chowk have made this temple I will visit and offer my prayers to Lord Hanuman and ask for world peace," said the AAP leader.