The Only Target – ‘Temples’ !

The Only Target – ‘Temples’ !

The Temple situated at Dasana Area of Ghaziabad , UP has become the hot topic of discussion.  In our country such topics get discussed either naturally or are thrust upon us as a result of some ongoing dispute or  something odd coming to light ! The story around Dasana Temple is no different ! A few days ago, a 14-15-year-old ’toddler‘ named Asif drank water from the Temple and hence, allegedly some Hindu devotees beat him. This is how it was publicised, without considering, or even worse, without listening to the other side of the story. Thus, once again, Hindus were painted in a bad light as belonging to a non-tolerant and violent community. This is exactly how the Dadri (which is merely 22 kms. from Dasana) incident was portrayed around 6 years ago when the so-called secular leaders such as Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal made a beeline to showcase their sympathy to the family of the victim.

With this background, the Head Priest, Yati Narsinhanand Saraswatiji, of the Temple shared some insights that were observed in the last 4-5 years. This is the only Hindu temple in a locality where the ’peace loving‘ community forms 95% of the population and there have been several murders of Hindu Sadhus. As a natural consequence, many Sadhus from the temple have fled to save their lives. The fanatics have successfully robbed the temple of its wealth several times in the past. The female devotees who visit the temple are often subjected to eve-teasing by the youngsters from the ’peace loving‘ community. Against this background, about a year ago, the Temple authorities put up a banner proclaiming that the entry of Muslims is prohibited, so as  to prevent all such incidents in the future. Despite this instruction, Asif entered the temple with an intent to steal valuables, but with an incredible excuse to drink water. When the Hindu devotees noticed this, they beat him up, explains Yati Narsinhanand Saraswatiji. When this came to light, obviously the banner became a hot topic of discussion. The secularists called it a religious injustice to Asif; however, they conveniently ignored the Jihadi attacks on Temples. Also, from communists to secularists, all have started to discuss this alleged injustice.

Why are secularists unhappy ?

Just look at the double standards of these people. They have no issues with Mosques restricting Hindus, but they get angry when a Temple takes a similar stance. Dress codes prescribed by the Churches in Kerala for females are acceptable, but not the request to wear decent clothes by Shirdi Sansthan. No one even seems grateful that 5 acres of land is given to Muslims for construction of a Mosque in Ayodhya, which is considered Holy by millions of Hindus across the globe. Now with this banner at Dasana Devi Temple, we should not be surprised if they start beating Hindus who enter Dargahs. In this context, we should not be surprised if some educated Hindu finds it as punishment for an ignorant Hindu who donates a chadar at a Dargah !

Sorry state of affairs of our Nation, thanks to religious fanaticism !

When this ’peace loving‘ community gets larger when compared with others, they become dominant and aggressive. This is a universal phenomenon and India is no exception. We witnessed the same at Dasana, Ghaziabad. These ’peace loving‘ people have started opposing this request vehemently. BSP MP Aslam Choudhary has called Narsinhanand Saraswatiji  ’Mafia‘. He has dared the entire temple administration and Hindus to restrict his entry into the temple as he claims that the temple was built by his kin and community. This state of affairs is similar to other places in our Nation where this community is in majority. This can be witnessed on a larger scale in Islamic Pakistan and Afghanistan. If we do not pay heed to these warnings and be alert, time would only tell how many parts our Nation can get divided into !

Create : Hindu Pressure Groups !

It needs to be seen what comes out of the Dasana Devi Temple incident, but this is certainly just the tip of the iceberg and we need to see beneath and think about preventive measures. Temples are places for imparting wisdom, providing religious education and spiritual energy, and are manifestations of faith for millions of Hindus. The network that wants to destroy Hindu Dharma is thus targeting its roots i.e. the Temples. Hence, these Governments want to take over the control of administration of temples. Recently, the BJD government in Odisha decided to sell off 35,000 acres of land that rightfully belongs to Jagannath Temple of Puri.  For the 37,000 Temples controlled by the TN government, there is just one caretaker, while for 11,999 temples there is no Priest at all ! The sorry state of temples in Maharashtra is also well known. This proves a point that, irrespective of the Government of any party in power, the attacks on Temples continue unabated. This is the bitter truth. The Islamic invaders have attacked and looted our Temples for the past 1,000 years. Now these Governments are doing nothing different. Thousands of temples in Tamilnadu and other States have been neglected for many years now. The issues regarding temples get politicized. We cannot forget how the Kathua incident was played out to score brownie points by depicting Hindus as demons. As a learning from the Dasana Devi Temple, Hindus must unite and start acting on such burning issues to ward off the continuous attacks on the Temples. Also, Hindus should create their own ecosystem (economic, social , judicial , cultural and political pressure groups) as a long lasting solution.