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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The Congress Working Committee (CWC) comprising of senior leaders of the party held a meeting in New Delhi day before yesterday. During the meeting, a heated argument had reportedly broken out between former Union Minister P. Chidambaram and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot leaving Rahul Gandhi fuming who was later pacified by his mother Sonia Gandhi and sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Earlier in August last year, 23 senior leaders that includes Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Union Ministers Kapil Sibal, Manish Tiwari and Shashi Tharoor had written to Sonia Gandhi asking for ‘fulltime effective leadership’ who is ‘active’ and ‘visible’ in the field. They had also asked for appointment of a permanent leader for the Congress party and the holding of elections to the Congress Working Committee. This had led to infighting among senior leaders and created a controversy.

This matter had erupted at the meeting held day before yesterday. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, while speaking, slammed the leaders who wrote the letter saying that, the executive committee meeting had taken place without any issue  for the past 10 years and added that one group is trying to ‘show themselves as big men’ asking for elections suddenly. He had said that leaders should refrain from criticizing the leadership. “Some leaders, without growing from the grassroots, want to get directly to the big post.”, he had apparently blurted out in the meeting. 

Some of Sonia’s supporters, including Rajya Sabha MP Ambika Soni, came in support of Gehlot. However, some senior leaders, including Anand Sharma, launched a scathing attack on the Rajasthan Chief Minister. In fact, Anand Sharma and Gehlot were involved in a direct confrontation with the two exchanging barbs and scolding each other with inappropriate words.

This had caused a stir in the meeting. Following this, many, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mukul Wasnik and Anand Sharma, insisted that CWC members should be elected through elections’ which was opposed strongly by Ambika Soni, Ashok Gehlot and A.K. Anthony. This had led to the former Union Minister P. Chidambaram directly launching an attack on Gehlot.

In response, Gehlot said “If not for the party, what value and respect do you have on the outside?”, coming down heavy on Chidambaram leading to further exchange in barbs.

Later Anand Sharma had reportedly told that those demanding elections to the working committee have been in the party since the time of Indira Gandhi. “They are all leaders of the Congress and not any other party. It is not okay to abuse fellow leaders and call them in singular” he had reportedly said.

Following this, Rahul Gandhi had intervened and asked the leaders to not use harsh words. “It has been decided to hold elections within the party. Let’s move towards it.”

However, senior journalist Rajagopalan notes that during this big fight, Rahul Gandhi was seething with anger at Chidambaram and was supposedly pacified by his mother and sister. He said in his tweet that the reason nothing untoward happened during the meeting was because it was a virtual meeting.

காங்கிரஸ் காரிய கமிட்டி கூட்டத்தில் சண்டை. ராகுல் காந்தி கோபப்பட்டார். சிதம்பரம் மீது. சோனியா-பிரியங்கா சமாதானப்படித்தினர் நேற்று ஒரு அசம்பாவிதமின்றி நடந்திட காரணம் ஆன்லைன் வீடியோ மீட்டிங். இன்று ராகுல் கோவையில் நிருபர்கள் இந்த கேள்வி யை கேட்கவேண்டும். @thatsTamil @dinamalarweb

— R. RAJAGOPALAN (@RAJAGOPALAN1951) January 23, 2021

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With Deebavali approaching in a few days, the Congress government in Rajasthan, led by Ashok Gehlot, has imposed a ban on the sale of firecrackers in the entire state, reports Hindustan Times.

The reason given by Chief Minister Gehlot about the ban was to protect the people from the COVID-19 pandemic and help those who are suffering from other health issues.

In a tweet sent from the official twitter handle of the Rajasthan CM, Gehlot said, “State govt has taken the decision to ban the sale and bursting of firecrackers in order to protect health of #COVID19 infected patients & public from poisonous smoke emanating due to fireworks. In this challenging corona pandemic time,protecting lives of ppl is paramount for govt”.

State govt has taken the decision to ban the sale and bursting of firecrackers in order to protect health of #COVID19 infected patients & public from poisonous smoke emanating due to fireworks.
In this challenging corona pandemic time,protecting lives of ppl is paramount for govt

— Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) November 2, 2020

Gehlot has categorically said, “People should desist from using crackers on Diwali,”. The CM also wants firecrackers to be banned during weddings and other events as well.

The pollution level in Rajasthan and the other northern states weeks ahead of Diwali has surged, however many feel the blanket ban on firecrackers is not justified and that the Congress government has willfully acquiesced to appease a certain minoroty.

Since the order given by the CM of Rajasthan, many on twitter have called out the pointless move that will have a severe impact on the livelihoods of the people in Sivakasi and cracker enterprises in Rajasthan. 

Antonio Maino Govt in Rajasthan bans firecrackers in Diwali
The same Antonio Maino Govt in Punjab is responsible for 40% of Pollution in Delhi coz they can't act against stubble burning Farmers pic.twitter.com/CWCZocgSqO

— Mihir Jha (@MihirkJha) November 1, 2020

how @INCIndia is peddling the Appeasement policies in Rajasthan by killing the indigenous industry during DIWALI. Will they dare to pull such stunts during EID or Xmas?? https://t.co/HQbFU2IInW

— Harish (@harish3912) November 2, 2020

Rajasthan: Firecracker makers in Dholpur worry following state govt's order to ban sale of firecrackers before Diwali

"It's our ancestral occupation. Having no income for 6 months we thought we'd sell these & earn. How will we return what we invested by borrowing?," says a maker pic.twitter.com/6bIWwOp7xS

— ANI (@ANI) November 2, 2020

Support Make in India crackers this Diwali. pic.twitter.com/GunitEGa5h

— Indu Makkal Katchi (off) (@Indumakalktchi) November 2, 2020

Associate Prof (Math) at the IISc Bangalore Abhishek Banerjee said, “This year, bumper sales for festive season have rescued the Indian economy. For years, Hindu festivals have been blamed for all the problems in India. How about we take a moment to thank these same Hindu festivals?”

This year, bumper sales for festive season have rescued the Indian economy.

For years, Hindu festivals have been blamed for all the problems in India.

How about we take a moment to thank these same Hindu festivals?

— Abhishek (@AbhishBanerj) November 2, 2020

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