Priest protests half-naked against Govt take-over of Char Dham temples

DEHRADUN: Brijesh Sati, spokesperson of Devbhoomi Teerthpurohit Char Dham Mahapanchayat, a body representing the priests, commenting on the issue said, “We are planning to hold protest of sitting half-naked by the priests in all 4 temples of Char Dham which includes Gangotri, Yamunotri and Badrinath. We will sit in similar kind of protest soon if the government fails to address our concerns.Meanwhile, thousands of priests associated with Char Dham and 47 other temples (Total 51) from across the hill state are already protesting against the state government since it has passed the Char Dham Shrine Board Bill, last year.

According to the priests, the arrangement by the state government  on the lines of Vaishno Devi Shrine Board and Tirupati Balaji Shrine Board aims to deprive them of their traditional rights and take control of the shines.

Earlier, last year, the priests associations of Uttarakhand in a blood-written letter to Prime Minister of India has requested to intervene in a matter concerning new law about managment of Char Dhams.

In December 2019, in a big win for government, the bill related to management of Char Dham was passed after discussion in Uttarakhand state assembly.