BHOPAL: In the era of politics of name change, politics has now begun over the use of the word ‘Shahi’ (imperial) in the traditional ‘Shahi Sawari’ procession of Lord Mahakal in Madhya Pradesh’s holiest city Ujjain – which is also the home city of state’s chief minister Dr Mohan Yadav.
Joining the demand of the local scholars, seer and devotees in Ujjain to remove the word ‘Shahi’ from the traditional procession of Lord Mahakal in Ujjain during the auspicious Hindu months of Shrawan, Bhadrapad and Kartik, former BJP MLA and party’s present state spokesperson Yashpal Singh Sisodiya demanded that the “Islamic/Urdu” word ‘Shahi’ be replaced with any of its Hindi synonyms.
Tagging a post to the MP CM Dr Mohan Yadav, the three-time former MLA from Mandsaur district Sisodiya, wrote that learned devotees, including seers and scholars in Ujjain, have objected to the use of ‘Shahi’ in the traditional procession of Lord Mahakal. “They’ve expressed anger by objecting to calling addressing the procession as Shahi Sawari, as the word ‘Shahi’ is Islamic. The devotees have demanded that the CM take the initiative for the change.”
Sisodiya also mentioned about a Hindu religious preacher Bhimashankar Shastri recently objecting in Mandsaur, to the use of terms Shahi Sawari, Shahi Palki etc to address the processions of Lord Shiva in Ujjain, Mandsaur and other places.
The state’s culture minister Dharmendra Singh Lodhi, said in Bhopal, that the demand raised by seers and devotees is important and will be looked into. “We’ll take an appropriate decision in consultation with the MP CM,” the minister said. Meanwhile, amid the controversy over the issue, the state’s public relations department released in the evening the CM Dr Mohan Yadav’s video message, in which the CM referred to the last traditional procession of Lord Mahakal (for Shrawan and Bhadrapad months) as Rajasi Sawari instead of Shahi Sawari.
Mocking at the politics over the issue, the state Congress’s media department head and ex-MLA Mukesh Nayak said “The state’s culture minister needs to first tell what the meaning of the word Shahi is? Then all terms containing the word should be changed, including Shahi Snan and sweets, like Shahi Paneer and Shahi Tukda.”