Tempers flare in Mathura as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) proposes to develop a corridor around the Banke Bihari temple. The narrow streets of Vrindavan seem to pose no problems for the shop owners around the temple but tourists agree with the proposed plan.
Banke Bihari temple is one of the oldest temples of Lord Krishna in India. He was believed to have been worshipped here as a child. Believers claim that the narrow streets of Vrindavan acted as the Lord’s playground and refuse to let the government make any changes to it.
Though usually it does not create any hindrance to the city’s local life, occasions like Janmasthami have given way to stampedes, causing the death of people who could not successfully reach the temple because of the narrow streets.
For
Anant Sharma, a seventy-year-old resident from Mathura has been writing to the administration since 2012. Two days before the Janmashtami stampede in 2022, he filed a PIL in the Allahabad High Court asking for the temple to be re-developed.
Various other tourists and devotees agree with Sharma that there isn’t enough space to house the lakhs of people who visit during Janmashtami. There is no space to keep the footwear and neither is the visit peaceful. The BJP government plans to make the darshan comfortable.
Read More: Hanuman Chalisa Is Yogi Adityanath’s Solution to Mathura’s Monkey Menace
Against
The local shop owners and priests are vehemently opposing the proposed redevelopment. The priests are anxious that the government is trying to take control of the temple whereas the shop owners know that the redevelopment would ensure the demolition of over 300 shops.
Some locals have also taken it upon themselves to send letters written in blood to PM Narendra Modi and CM Yogi Adityanath.
A local priest says that Vrindavan is identified as a Bhaavbhoomi and not Karmabhoomi or Daanbhoomi, meaning that it qualifies as a no-construction zone.
Do you think the planned development would do more harm than good? Let us know in the comments.
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Source: The Print, The Times of India, and IndiaTVNews
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This post is tagged under: mathura, bjp, banke bihari, pil, vrindavan, krishna, lord krishna, narrow streets, playground, janmasthami, anant sharma, redevelopment, allahabad high court, bhavbhoomi, karmabhoomi, daanbhoomi, letter, blood, modi
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