DEOGHAR: Jharkhand's Congress MLA Irfan Ansari on Wednesday performed puja at the famous Baidyanath Dham temple at Deoghar, considered to be the most sacred abode of Lord Shiva, creating a controversy.
Claiming that entry of non-Hindus is not allowed in the temple, BJP MP Dr Nishikant Dubey demanded immediate arrest of Ansari.
The MLA of Jamtara, along with his companions, entered the sanctum sanctorum of the temple and performed the puja.
Photographs of the act were also taken.
Ansari claimed that he has been coming to the Baidyanath Dham temple since his childhood to take the blessings of Lord Shiva.
"Whenever elections come, I have been blessed by Baba Bhole (Lord Shiva) and I have won. Who is Nishikant Dubey to take me away from Baba?" Ansari said.
Dubey, the MP of Godda, demanded that the states JMM-led government order arrest of Ansari and take action against the deputy commissioner and the superintendent of police of Deoghar for allowing this to happen.
"No non-Hindu has entered the sanctum sanctorum of the Baba temple till date.
Just as the entry of non-Muslims is forbidden in the Kaaba in Mecca, the entry of non-Hindus into the Baba temple is also forbidden," he told a press conference.
Kaaba is a small shrine located inside the Great Mosque in Mecca and considered by Muslims as the holiest spot on Earth.
Dubey said that once National Confrence leader Farooq Abdullah, when he was a Union minister, came to Deoghar and bowed down to Baba with folded hands from outside, but did not enter the sanctum sanctorum.