After the Maha Vikas Aghadi which is the name of the coalition government in Maharashtra took control of three prominent Hindu temples, the Rajasthan government is now working towards acquiring control of the Mehandipur Balaji Temple, one of the most sacred and venerated Hanuman temples in the country, situated in Dausa district, reports Swarjaya.
The assistant commissioner of the Devasthan Vibhag (government department for regulation of temples, charitable institutions, and religious trusts) recently issued a public notification in this regard.
However, this decision has not been accepted by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Dasnam Goswami Community who are the traditional care-takers of Mehandipur Balaji and panchas (headmen) of 100 surrounding villages. They have now registered their protest against this decision and have warned the Ashok Gehlot-led state government of a massive agitation.
This all started after the demise of Mahant Kishor Puri on 8 August as the Dasnam society elected Ganesh Naresh Puri Maharaj as the mahant. However, when the process of deciding the new successor on the seat of the mahant of Mehandipur Balaji (Shri Hanumanji) Temple was still going on the Gehlot government issued a takeover notice on account of “mismanagement” in the temple.
After the takeover notice was issued, the stakeholders were asked to submit their suggestions, latest by 17 August, for the constitution of a ‘management committee’. But this hostile takeover this sacred Hanuman temple will not be an easy task for the Congress because senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Arun Chaturvedi who was the former president in the state unit along with former minister Kalicharan Saraf and Golma Devi have reached out to Nareshpuri Maharaj and assured complete support and have made it clear that the BJP will fiercely oppose this move of the state government, reports Dainik Jagran.
Umashankar Sharma who is a central minister called this arbitrary move a big “conspiracy” of the state government. Representatives of the Goswami community have been the mahants of Mehandipur Balaji Temple for hundreds of years have called the take over of the temple by the Congress government as unnecessarily and illegally interfering in temple affairs.
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