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bbcbreakingnews · 4 years

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BJP wins 41 out of 59 bypoll seats, 31 at Cong’s expense

In a tidal sweep of byelections in seven out of 11 states, the BJP or an ally on Tuesday won 41 of the 59 seats at stake –– as many as 31 of them at Congress’s expense. Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat provided the big bang in this cracker of a pre-Diwali performance, with the saffron party wresting 26 seats from Congress in these two states alone. In Gujarat, BJP’s “double engine” steamrollered Congress in all eight seats to which bypolls were held, including five in Saurashtra and the tribal-dominated constituency of Dang. Five of the victors are turncoat Congress MLAs who had switched sides ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls. In the 182-member House, BJP now has 111 seats to Congress’s 65. Manipur was the third state where BJP scored a near-perfect 4 in Congress strongholds. The fifth Congress-held seat was captured by an independent.

Uttar Pradesh, too, played to BJP’s script, strengthening CM Yogi Adityanath’s hand with a six-on-six show in seats held by the party, including the Bangarmau constituency that rape and murder convict Kuldeep Singh Sengar used to represent. One of the BJP victors was the late cricketer-turned-politician Chetan Chauhan’s wife Sangeeta Chauhan, who won the Naugawan Sadat seat that fell vacant when her husband died after a bout of Covid-19 in August. The Samajwadi Party narrowly retained the seventh UP seat that went to poll, maintaining status quo in the assembly. BJP continued its march in Karnataka, wresting the Sira seat from JD(S) and RR Nagar from Congress to silence CM BS Yediyurappa’s detractors and possibly put a lid on talk of a leadership change. As in Gujarat, voters re-elected a turncoat Congress MLA contesting the RR Nagar seat on a BJP ticket. Winner N Munirathna’s resignation after crossing over had necessitated the bypoll. The saffron party’s strength in the House now stands at 119, while Congress has 67 and JD(S) 33 MLAs.

In Telangana, BJP engineered a coup of sorts when its candidate M Raghunandan Rao beat the Chandrashekar Rao-led TRS’s nominee Solipeta Sujatha by a wafer-thin margin of 1,079 votes in the Dubbak byelection. For Raghunandan, it was fourth time lucky in Dubbak after thrice ending up on the losing side. Sources said the verdict could well be an affirmation of how Telangana’s future politics will play out, with BJP replacing Congress as the main opposition party in the state. The first sign of this was BJP winning four seats for the first time in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. In MP, 18 of the 19 seats won by BJP were those that Congress lost. For the grand old party, the big gain was in Chhattisgarh, where it wrested the Marwahi (ST) seat — a stronghold of the Ajit Jogi family for almost two decades. Dr Krishna Kumar Dhruw defeated BJP’s Dr Gambhir Singh by over 38,197 votes there. The nearly 25% difference in vote share told the story — while ruling Congress got 56% votes, BJP managed 30.4%. With this win, Congress now has 70 seats in the 90-member assembly after winning the Dantewada and Chitrakot (ST) byelection in September last year. One of the two Nagaland seats that went to poll was won by NDPP, a BJP ally. The other went to an independent.

The post BJP wins 41 out of 59 bypoll seats, 31 at Cong’s expense appeared first on BreakingNews.

source https://bbcbreakingnews.com/2020/11/10/bjp-wins-41-out-of-59-bypoll-seats-31-at-congs-expense/

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doonitedin · 3 years

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Breaking News September 14 | LIVE Updates

Image Source : INDIA TV Breaking News September 14 | LIVE Updates Hello and welcome to India TV Digital’s coverage of all the Breaking News happening across India and the world. Here is the live coverage of all the news updates as they happen. Latest India News Doonited Affiliated: Syndicate News Hunt Source link

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#abbajan #Amarinder Singh #bhabanipur #Bhupendra Patel #breaking news #covid Vaccination #Covid-19 cases #farmer protests #gujarat elections #pm modi speech #Priyanka Tibrewal #Punjab congress #raja mahendra pratap singh state university inauguration #september 14 #Yogi Adityanath

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xtruss · 4 years

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Fascist Hindus’ Randia

Why India’s Muslims Are in Grave Danger

In a Q&A with FP's Ravi Agrawal, Ashutosh Varshney said he believes last week’s riots in Delhi bear some of the hallmarks of an organized pogrom.

An expert on communal riots says the country may well be witnessing the start of a larger pogrom.

By Ravi Agrawal | March 02, 2020 | Foreign Policy

Security personnel patrol a street following sectarian riots over India's new citizenship law in New Delhi, India, on Feb. 28, 2020.

India has been jolted by the deadliest communal violence in New Delhi in decades. The fighting began on Sunday, Feb. 23—just before U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in the country for meetings with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi—and quickly escalated into mass riots, with Hindu mobs targeting Muslim homes in the city’s northeast. At least 45 people were killed—mostly Muslims.

Ashutosh Varshney, a Brown University professor and author of the prize-winning Ethnic Conflict and Civic Life: Hindus and Muslims in India, believes last week’s riots in Delhi bear some of the hallmarks of an organized pogrom. India has been there before: In 2002, in Gujarat, when Modi was the state’s chief minister, more than 1,000 people were killed in religious riots. Most were Muslims. While Modi was later cleared of wrongdoing by the country’s judiciary, critics say that he could have done much more to prevent the attacks. And in 1984, again in Delhi, an estimated 3,000 Sikhs were targeted and killed after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards. In both cases, experts say, riots could not have been conducted without some complicity on the part of the police.

Varshney believes last week’s deadly clashes could be repeated in other parts of the country—and that Muslims are particularly vulnerable. Here is a transcript of Foreign Policy’s interview with Varshney, lightly edited for clarity.

Ravi Agrawal: There’s been a bit of debate about whether the violence in Delhi last week should be defined as a riot or as something more serious—a pogrom. Can you explain the difference?

Ashutosh Varshney: Pogroms are a special class of riots when it’s no longer simply a clash between two mobs or groups. Instead, the police are siding with one group either by looking away or by abetting and sometimes even directly participating in the violence. The key difference between riots and pogroms lies in the behavior of the state—through its police. The term was born in tsarist Russia when pogroms were launched against Jews.

RA: Given what we know now, how would you classify the violence in Delhi?

AV: On the first day and night—Sunday, Feb. 23—we saw two mobs going at each other. There were deaths on both sides. But on the second and third day, the partisanship of the police became clear. A mosque, a Muslim shrine, and Muslim homes and shops were attacked. The police did not respond to calls for help. Logs suggest a high volume of those calls came from predominantly Muslim parts of northeast Delhi. But the police failed to show up. Hindu mobs then attacked with abandon.

The second part is more direct participation. There are videos, in particular one which shows young Muslim men being hit by a Hindu mob. And the cops are asking the fallen and beaten Muslim men to sing the national anthem—as they’re being hit. That is quite egregious.

But the more significant evidence thus far is of the police simply looking away and not responding to Muslim pleas for help as homes, places of worship, and commercial enterprises were attacked with impunity.

RA: The fact that all of this happened in New Delhi, the capital city of India, is significant.

AV: Delhi has a unique structure for police operations. In every other part of India, the police report to the state government, and not to the central government, because law and order is defined as a state subject by India’s constitution. But Delhi’s police reports to the central government, not to the state government—technically, Delhi is not a full-fledged state. The fact that the central government is led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would therefore make Modi’s government responsible for law and order in Delhi. And the minister of home affairs, Amit Shah, would be the final authority to which Delhi’s police force would report. So the responsibility for the failure to maintain law and order also lies at his door.

RA: Some of the perpetrators of the attacks were heard shouting “Jai Shri Ram,” or “Victory to Lord Ram.” Can you explain the significance of that chant?

AV: “Jai Shri Ram,” theologically speaking, is a celebration of Lord Ram, the Hindu deity known for compassion and considered to be the embodiment of the highest morality and ethics. But in recent Hindu nationalist ideological campaigns, Jai Shri Ram has been weaponized to express muscularity, masculinity, and coercion—as opposed to kindness and compassion. So, the meaning of Jai Shri Ram has been transformed into a battle cry for the establishment of a Hindu nationalist polity, presided over by a Hindu nationalist state.

RA: Given that you describe last week’s events in Delhi as bearing the hallmarks of the beginning of a pogrom, how severe is the danger of other, similar outbreaks of violence across the country?

AV: The most vulnerable Muslim populations are in BJP-ruled states, because the role of the police is critical—and the police comes under the state government. If BJP governments in various states of India push the police against the Muslims, then only the bravest police officers would resist, because the authority structure is very clear. The danger to Muslim minorities in BJP-ruled states is grave. Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state with a population of 200 million, seems particularly vulnerable. Muslims comprise about 18 percent of the population there, and they are spread out all over the state. There was a big riot in Muzaffarnagar in 2013, for example, and the police were nowhere to be seen. UP is also ruled by a politician, Yogi Adityanath, whose anti-Muslim prejudice and fervor is well-known and has been openly displayed.

RA: What can civil society and the media do to prevent outbreaks of violence?

AV: Civil society can be quite important in creating bulwarks of resistance and peace, but that is not something it can do instantly. The creation of inter-religious networks between Hindus and Muslims takes a few years, if not more. The probability of integrated communities coming apart is much lower than the probability of segregated communities coming apart.

A more immediate issue always is how to minimize the extent or the intensity of violence. And that’s where the media plays a key role. By reporting courageously; by condemning what it finds unacceptable and sees as clear violations of norms, rules, and laws; and by creating a narrative of critique, the media can slow down or reduce the intensity of violence.

Sometimes the police intervene, too—even without political approval. Legally and constitutionally, the police can step in during moments of crisis. However, those police officers, administrators, and bureaucrats seem fewer in number today than was the case earlier. They are not entirely absent: I repeatedly came across in my research examples of police officers and administrators who would simply apply the law and not follow a political script. But a large number of police officers and bureaucrats do not have the courage to stand up to political authorities.

RA: Journalists in India are under threat, meanwhile. One photographer told the Washington Post a mob threatened to remove his pants to check whether he was circumcised—essentially to determine if he was Muslim. How much of this has to do with messaging from the government?

AV: The ideology of the government has created a ground-level situation where instructions do not have to come from the top. So-called agents devise their own strategies and think that by acting in a bigoted manner, by attacking Muslims, they could rise in the political hierarchy. So the incentive structure that gets created from the top begins to acquire a logic of its own and activates storm troopers and lower-level functionaries on the ground who try to interpret what the party bosses might appreciate or be pleased by.

RA: Prime Minister Modi’s second term began last May, after he won a landslide national election. While signs of the current muscular, chauvinistic brand of Hinduism were there in his first term as well—as we saw in several incidents of lynchings of Muslims, for example—there’s been a marked acceleration in the ruling BJP’s push for its social agenda. Why is that the case?

AV: Ahead of Modi’s first term in 2014, the political campaign had very few Hindu nationalist themes. I couldn’t count more than two speeches. You can say there were dog whistles and some displays of bigotry in the functioning of the midlevel politicians, but it wasn’t a dominant narrative.

In the campaign ahead of Modi’s second term, in 2019, the platform was more directly about the Hindu nationalist reconstruction of India. It can be claimed that given that the BJP’s vote share increased by 7 percentage points, India’s elections have authorized a more ideological and cultural push of the Hindu nationalist variety. But it’s also clear from the election data that the mandate was a complicated one. The vote in favor of Modi was not necessarily one of simply pushing a social and cultural agenda. National security was also an issue. Welfare programs had gained popularity: The BJP’s programs for sanitation and cooking gas were popular. To see the May 2019 election as a vote for an ideological restructuring of India would be to place an excessive interpretation on the wishes of the electorate. But that’s what happens in politics. The BJP seems sufficiently emboldened to use the legislative route to start restructuring the polity. And the Citizenship Amendment Act that passed on Dec. 11—leading to the current spate of protests—was the culmination of that.

— Ravi Agrawal is the managing editor of Foreign Policy. Twitter: @RaviReports

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bigyack-com · 4 years

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Protests erupt across India against CAA; 3 killed - india news

Two persons were killed in Mangaluru, Karnataka and one person died in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, due to gunshot wounds sustained during nationwide protests held against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed pan-India National Register of Citizens (NRC) on Thursday.Jaleel (49) and Nausheen (23) died after receiving firearm injuries, as the police sought to control protests that took place across multiple cities in Karnataka, including Mangaluru. In Lucknow, Mohd Wakeel, a resident of Hussainabad, died as police cracked down on protesters in the capital city of UP. The Director General of Police however said that the police has nothing to do with Wakeel’s death, and that an investigation will be carried out in this matter.Protests were held across 56 cities in 24 states and Union Territories on December 19, leading to the imposition of Section 144 — which prevents the gathering of four or more persons in a given place as a riot-prevention measure — in many parts of the country, including Delhi, several cities of Karnataka such as Bengaluru, Mangaluru, and Mysuru, as well as all the districts of Assam. Mobile services, voice calls and internet services were suspended in parts of the country, including in the Northeast. Police vs protestersSeveral persons, including policemen were injured in violence in parts of UP, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat during the day-long protest over the new citizenship law. Police opened fire in Mangaluru after confronted by stone-pelting protesters, as a result of which a resident of the port area, 49-year-old Jaleel and a resident of Bengre, 23-year-old Nausheen were critically injured, and later succumbed to their wounds. Manguluru police commissioner P S Harsha told the media that the police were forced to open fire in self-defence, and that 20 policemen have been seriously injured. Police have imposed curfew in the city till Friday midnight. The UP police confirmed that 112 people were arrested in Lucknow after they participated in the protests. At least 16 policemen, including ADG Lucknow SN Sabat and IG Lucknow SK Bhagat, were injured in Lucknow while two cops were injured in Sambhal, police said.Around the country, hundreds of protesters were detained. About 100 students from Maulana Azad Urdu University, Central University Hyderabad and Osmania University detained in Hyderabad; noted historian Ramachandra Guha, Congress legislator Sowmya Reddy and MLA-elect Rizwan Arshad, as well as Gandhian activist and theatre personality Prasanna were detained in Bengaluru; Swaraj India president Yogendra Yadav, former Patiala Parliamentarian Dharamvir Gandhi, former National Advisory Council member Harsh Mander, lawyer activist Prashant Bhushan and social activist John Dayal were among those detained in Delhi.Various student groups, civil society groups, ordinary citizens and Opposition political parties participated in protests on Thursday to condemn the CAA, the proposed all-India NRC as well as the violence which occurred in Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), a university in Delhi, and Aligarh Muslim University on December 15. Police had entered JMI and AMU and assaulted students and fired tear gas shells at them. Over 50 JMI students were detained, and several injured. In most locations, including Delhi and Mumbai, protests were peaceful as thousands came out into the streets. In Rajasthan, a hundreds-strong protest in Jaipur progressed peacefully, a senior police officer said. Protests were also held in Sikar and Ganganagar at the call of the Left parties. The protests were peaceful and there were no reports of imposition of section 144 or suspension of internet services in the state. Peaceful protests were also held in the Jammu and Kashmir, Dehradun and Simla. In Chandigarh, Muslim outfits were joined by students and Sikh outfits to register their dissent. Protests at Parivartan Chowk, Madeyganj and Satkhanda localities in Lucknow turned violent, with demonstrators lobbing stones at the police, and the cops retaliating with batons, tear gas shells, water cannons and alleged gunfire. Violence was also reported from two other districts in UP, in Sambhal and Amroha. In Sambhal, a group of Samajwadi Party (SP) protestors set a UP Road Transport Corporation bus on fire, the police said. “One cannot indulge in violence in the name of protest. We will take strict action against such elements,” UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath said.At AMU, teachers took out a silent march. “We feel that we are fighting for the idea of India as envisaged by the founding fathers of the nation. This is not a struggle for the rights of any particular community,” AMU Teachers Association secretary, Professor Najmul Islam said.In Bihar, members of Left-wing student organisations squatted on railway tracks at Rajendra Nagar Terminus early in the morning, while hundreds of activists of Jan Adhikar Party (JAP), floated by former MP Pappu Yadav burnt tyres on an adjacent road, police said. In Jehanabad, which had been a stronghold of the ultra-Left movement in Bihar, CPI(ML) activists disrupted traffic on national highways. Violent turnThe Gujarat Police used baton-charge at Sardar Baug and Shah Alam, the two localities in Ahmedabad city, on Thursday after alleged stone pelting. Police claimed that 14 policemen were injured. “Despite repeated requests, the protestors refused to disperse and started pelting stones in which police personnel got injured. We had to use force to disperse the unruly crowd,” said Ashish Bhatia, Ahmedabad police commissioner. Protests in West Bengal, Assam and Meghalaya were largely peaceful even though rallies were taken out to oppose CAA and NRC. In Chandigarh and Jammu, the Left and Congress workers held protest rallies.Police reportedly resorted to a lathi charge to disperse a crowd after stone pelting created panic in Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh, said a police officer who didn’t wish to be quoted.The ruling BJP and the government maintained there won’t be any rethink on implementation of the new citizenship law. Slamming the opposition for protesting against the new law, BJP working president J P Nadda said on Thursday that the CAA will be implemented, and that the National Register of Citizens will also be brought in.“India today has the ignominy of being the largest internet shutdown in the world... This is worse than Emergency,” Sitaram Yechury, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader, who was detained in Delhi, said.Earlier this month, the Parliament passed the amended act to allow undocumented migrants from six communities — Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Christian, Parsi, and Jain — to stay in India and get citizenship if they claim religious persecution. This provision is valid for people who entered India before December 31, 2014. (With inputs from HTC in regional bureaus and agencies) Read the full article

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kailashsingh11 · 2 years

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Kashi Vishwanath Temple: Corridor of faith

The inauguration of the new Kashi Vishwanath Temple corridor by the prime minister at a cost of Rs. 800 crore is a boon for pilgrims and a boost for the BJP with polls nigh.

Ashish Misra

Lucknow December 10, 2021

ISSUE DATE: December 20, 2021

UPDATED: December 10, 2021 00:04 IST

A views of the construction of the Kashi Vishwanath temple corridor; Photo by Anand Singh for India Today

In February 2018, Mayank Agarwal, a 42-year-old bank worker from Lucknow 19s Rajajipuram, had taken his elderly parents to Varanasi. They had hoped for darshan at the Kashi Vishwanath temple on February 13, on the occasion of Mahashivratri. However, despite reaching Varanasi a day early and leaving for the temple at 6 am, Agarwal found it impossible to fulfil his parents 19 wishes. All the roads leading to the temple were packed with devotees. 1CIt was not possible for my parents, who are over 70, to brave the crowds for too long. There were also problems because of the lack of toilets and other facilities. After spending some time trying to make our way to the temple, we went to Maidagin chowk, and did darshan of Baba Vishwanath on the LED screen there. 1D

Many devotees tell similar stories, of being unable to visit the Kashi Vishwanath temple because of the massive crowds packing the narrow streets leading to the temple. After December 13, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates the Kashi Vishwanath corridor 14a sprawling construction connecting the temple to the river Ganga 14this will no longer be the case. For the devout Hindu, darshan now promises to be an easier, more serene affair, with a level of ease and facilitation they could scarcely have expected earlier. Following the construction of the corridor, which began in 2019, the narrow streets have been replaced by wide avenues. The Kashi Vishwanath temple complex, which formerly occupied an area of 3,000 sq. ft, has now been expanded to a massive 500,000 sq. ft. The corridor also features modern amenities, such as ramps and escalators, to make the journey easier for pilgrims.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, contesting from Varanasi, had raised this issue, expressing a desire to see the Kashi Vishwanath temple developed on the lines of the Somnath temple in Gujarat. In 2017, after the Yogi Adityanath government was formed in Uttar Pradesh, this plan gained momentum 14in April that year, while reviewing the development plans for Varanasi, Chief Minister Adityanath directed government officials to prioritise the construction of the Kashi Vishwanath corridor. To speed up the process, the state cabinet approved the formation of a special area development board to expedite the acquisition of land for the project and for the construction. By March 2019, about 60 per cent of the land needed for the project had been acquired, with Prime Minister Modi laying the foundation stone of the corridor on March 8 that year, a few days before the general election was announced.

Now, by inaugurating the corridor in the runup to the 2022 assembly election in UP, Prime Minister Modi will hope to once again reap political advantage. Kaushal Kishor Mishra, dean of social sciences and professor of political science at the Banaras Hindu University, says, 1CThe Kashi Vishwanath temple attracts a large number of tourists not only from across the country, but also from abroad. People would never have imagined that the temple, which was situated between very narrow streets, would one day be surrounded by a grand corridor. And by inaugurating the corridor just before the UP assembly election, Prime Minister Modi will not only highlight his development agenda, the BJP will also aggressively push the Hindutva agenda by talking about the completion of this project in Varanasi and the commencement of the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. 1D

A views of the construction of the Kashi Vishwanath temple corridor; Photo by Anand Singh for India Today

Sources say it was not an easy task to expand the temple complex from its original 3,000 sq. ft area into a grand corridor measuring 500,000 sq. ft. For one, officials identified over 300 buildings that were within the proposed footprint of the corridor and would need to be removed. Deepak Agrawal, who took over as commissioner of Varanasi division in March 2018, and is the chairman of the Shri Kashi Vishwanath Special Area Development Board, played a major role in this process. When it came to these buildings, Agrawal says he had two options 14to either acquire these properties and demolish them, or to include them in the corridor through mutual agreement. 1C314 properties were identified, 1D he says. 1CThese included privately owned properties, trust properties and assets held by entities which only had custodians. 1D Another problem was having these properties vacated 14more than 100 cases involved properties with different owners and occupants, with the latter being either tenants or encroachers. 1CIn cases where tenants did not have legal documentation for the properties they were occupying for business, a one-time settlement was done on the basis of mutual agreement. Rehabilitation grants between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 10 lakh were paid, 1D he says. He adds that these grant payments also took into consideration the social status of the people being relocated 14widows and members of SC/ ST (scheduled caste/ tribe) communities got higher payments. As a result of such efforts, he says, not a single case of land acquisition has become a dispute pending in court. This effort also saw an example of communal harmony 14for the construction of the corridor, about 1,700 sq. ft of land in front of the Gyanvapi Masjid had to be acquired. This land was purchased, with the Anjuman Intezamiya Masjid (AIM, the organisation in charge of the Gyanvapi Masjid) being given 1,000 sq. ft of land in Varanasi 19s Bansphatak area.

After the land was acquired, demolition of the existing structures began in 2019. During this process, 61 ancient temples, along with idols of gods and goddesses were recovered. Agrawal says, 1CWhen the corridor was being designed, it was thought that the entire complex surrounding the temple would be flattened. The design was changed to incorporate the temples uncovered during the demolition into the corridor. Many buildings, such as the Vedic Centre and the Mumukshu Bhavan, were also relocated. 1D Of the temples that were uncovered, 27 of the largest are being renovated. A 18dev gallery (gallery of the gods) 19 is also being constructed as part of the corridor, where the remains of the temples and the idols uncovered during the demolition will be preserved.

However, not everyone is happy with the process. Questions have been raised about the demolition of sacred structures in the area. Vishwambhar Nath Mishra, a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University), Varanasi, says, 1CThe demolition of temples around the Kashi Vishwanath temple for the construction of the corridor has changed the ecosystem of the entire area. The ill effects of this will be seen in the days to come. 1D Others disagree. Ashutosh Tandon, minister in charge of Varanasi district, says, 1CThe number of temples that have emerged from the buildings around the Kashi Vishwanath temple prove that in ancient times there were many temples in the Baba Vishwanath temple complex, which were later encroached upon. These temples have been protected [by including them in the corridor]. 1D

As a result of this progress, the BJP has begun pushing its cultural agenda. A major facet of this was a multi-city religious procession carried out with a statue of Mata Annapurna that was recently repatriated from Canada to India. This 18th century stone idol had been stolen from Kashi and transported to Canada in 1913, where it was housed at the University of Regina. After the Indian government received information about the statue 19s whereabouts, the Centre began diplomatic efforts to have it returned. After it was brought back to the country, on November 11, on the occasion of Gopashtami, it began a journey to Varanasi in a procession that travelled from New Delhi to Varanasi via Ghaziabad, Aligarh, Kanpur, Lucknow and Ayodhya. On November 15, on the occasion of Devotthan Ekadashi, at a function attended by Chief Minister Adityanath, it was installed at the Kashi Vishwanath temple complex.

Kishor Mishra says, 1CJudging from how processions were carried out in a dozen cities across Uttar Pradesh before the installation of the statue in the Kashi Vishwanath temple, it is clear that before the 2022 assembly election, the BJP will resort to aggressive displays of Hindutva to counter the issues raised by Opposition parties. 1D The BJP 19s Varanasi unit has also been deputed to create buzz about the inauguration of the temple corridor. To ensure sufficient attention on the inauguration ceremony on December 13, the local unit has put together a team involving BJP office bearers, MLAs and ministers. Mahesh Chand Srivastava, the BJP 19s Varanasi president, says, 1CPrasad from the Kashi Vishwanath temple will be carried from village to village. Officials responsible for this have also been given block-wise responsibilities to encourage villagers to visit the temple. 1D

Questioning the BJP 19s effort to get political mileage from the corridor, Omprakash Singh, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and tourism minister in the previous Akhilesh Yadav government, says, 1CThe Kashi Vishwanath corridor project was begun during the term of the SP government. Five buildings were also purchased. The BJP will not benefit from the construction of the corridor. 1D One way or another, the true test of the project 19s popularity will be the results of the UP assembly election, scheduled for February 2022.

THE KASHI VISHWANATH TEMPLE 19S NEW LOOK

ON JUNE 19, 2018: Uttar Pradesh 19s Yogi Adityanath government constituted a special area development board for the Kashi Vishwanath temple corridor project, with the commissioner of Varanasi as chairman of the board.

ON MARCH 8, 2019: Just before the Lok Sabha election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone

of the project, which would expand the 3,000 sq. ft temple complex into a 500,000 sq. ft area that connects the temple with the river Ganga

THE PROJECT: The master plan was prepared by HCP Design, Planning and Management, the same firm that is responsible for the development of the Central Vista in New Delhi. Construction is being carried out by Ahmedabad-based PSP Projects.

THERE ARE three main parts of the Kashi Vishwanath temple corridor: the temple complex, spread over a rectangular area 73 metres long and 40 metres wide, a temple chowk in the middle, about 5,000 sq. m in size and a pathway connecting the temple chowk to the Ganga ghat

THE TEMPLE generally sees about 20,000 devotees per day. On special occasions like Shivraatri, this number rises to beyond 200,000. The revamped temple complex will be able to accommodate 500,000 devotees per day.

THE REDEVELOPMENT has come at a massive cost 14about Rs 390 crore to acquire land, Rs 70 crore on rehabilitation and demolition 14and Rs 339 crore on Phase I of construction. Another Rs 66 crore will be spent in Phase II, to build a ramp at Ganga Ghat and a gate and jetty at Lalita Ghat.

TEMPLE COMPLEX

The temple is surrounded by an 11-foot-wide gallery, with a bhogshala (food hall) behind the yaatri suvidha kendra (visitor facilitation centre) at the Saraswati Gate. Sadhus living at the temple will have their food prepared at the bhogshala

NEELKANTH PAVILION

This houses the office of the Shri Kashi Vishwanath Special Area Development Board on the first floor and a fire fighting system on the ground floor

GUEST HOUSE

There is a two-storey guest house next to the Neelkanth pavilion, with 18 rooms on each floor

MUMUKSHU BHAVAN

This stands behind the Varanasi gallery and city museum. It will have accommodation for 48 people. Elderly devotees who wish to spend their last days in Kashi will be able to stay here

VARANASI GALLERY AND CITY MUSEUM

On the right side of the pathway connecting the temple chowk to the Ganga ghat, this museum will relate the history of the Kashi Vishwanath temple. The remains of old temples and the artefacts found during construction will be on display

MULTIPURPOSE HALL

This two-storey building will be able to host 330 devotees per floor. Religious events and seminars will be conducted here

TOURIST FACILITATION CENTRE

This building will house various services for visitors, from booking travel tickets to hiring tour guides to visit places around Varanasi

WOOD STORE

The basement of the tourist facilitation centre will contain a firewood godown/ store for funerals at the Manikarnika ghat

SPIRITUAL BOOK CENTRE

Spiritual books from many religions will be available for purchase at this centre, near the food court

MANDIR CHOWK

There are three- storey buildings on both sides of the Mandir chowk. The ground floor houses toilet complexes and locker rooms, the first floor contains handicraft emporiums, while the second floor will have meeting rooms for members of the Shri Kashi Vishwanath Special Area Development Board

VIEWING GALLERY

A viewing gallery has been built above the gate entering the temple chowk from the pathway. From here, devotees will be able to see the Ganga river on one side and Kashi Vishwanath temple on the other

FOOD COURT

Devotees will be able to purchase refreshments from this food court near the entrance to the temple chowk

VEDIC CENTRE

At this centre, up to 100 people at a time will be given training in rituals and yoga. It will also house copies of various ancient texts

GHATS AND JETTIES

A route to the corridor has been developed via the Jalasen and Lalita ghats. Devotees arriving by boat will be able to land directly at a jetty being built on the Lalita ghat

YAATRI SUVIDHA KENDRA

Visitor facilitation centres have been constructed at the three entry gates to the revamped complex. Devotees will be able to avail of services like booking aarti slots and renting lockers. Security checks of devotees will also be conducted here

QUEUE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

To prevent long wait times and crowding within the corridor, a queue management system is being implemented. After booking darshan/ aartis, devotees will be given time slots for their visits

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Posted byArindam Mukherjee

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