The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders were seen with mops and brooms to clean up temples in various parts of the country on Sunday after Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged citizens to kickstart cleanliness campaigns in temples ahead of the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ on January 22.
BJP national president JP Nadda participated in a cleanliness drive at Guru Ravidas Mandir, Karol Bagh in Delhi. Nadda garlanded the statue of Saint Guru Ravidas in the temple and then did cleanliness work for the next half an hour. He listened to the hymns of the Mahila Mandal of the temple and took blessings sitting in front of the statue of Saint Guru Ravidas.
Nadda said the BJP has decided to carry out a cleanliness campaign at temples across the country from Makar Sankranti to January 22 (consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya).
“Following the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP has decided that from Makar Sankranti to January 22, we (party leaders and workers) will conduct a cleanliness campaign at several temples and holy premises in the country,” he told reporters as he kicked off the campaign from Delhi’s Ravidas Temple. In a post on X in Hindi, he said that he felt blessed to come to the place.
“... Under this campaign, all of us are doing ‘Shramdaan’ (voluntary work) in various temples from January 14 to 22, participating in ‘bhajan-kirtan’ (singing devotional songs) and on January 22, we will engage in the worship of Lord Shri Ram by lighting ‘Shri Ram Jyoti’ in our homes,” he added in the post. He listened to the hymns of the Mahila Mandal of the temple and took blessings sitting in front of the statue of Saint Guru Ravidas.
BJP National General Secretary Dushyant Gautam, Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi, Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva , Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri and Kapil Mishra also offered shramdaan for cleanliness.
Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi participated at Connaught Place’s Hanuman Mandir cleanliness drive while Kapil Mishra participated in Marghat wale Baba Hanuman Mandir near Nigambodh Ghat Kashmeri Gate. Bidhuri visited Shree Radha Krishan Mandir in Jaitpur-II and participated in the cleanliness drive.
Lekhi posted pictures on X, saying she offered ‘shramdaan’ at the old Hanuman temple near Connaught Place. “Shramdaan, in the name of Lord Shri Ram. On the call of the illustrious Prime Minister of India, Respected Shri @narendramodi ji, on the launch of the cleanliness campaign to be run at pilgrimage sites and temples from January 14-22, today I did Shramdaan under the #SwachhTeerth campaign at the ancient Shri Hanuman Temple located in Connaught Place in my parliamentary constituency,” Lekhi, the BJP MP from New Delhi constituency, posted on X.
She also called upon people to contribute to this “great campaign and celebrate Diwali by keeping our pilgrimage sites clean and lighting Ram Jyoti on January 22”.
Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh chief ministers Yogi Adityanath, Bhupendra Patel, Bhajan Lal Sharma and Mohan Yadav joined the cleanliness campaign in Ayodhya, Gandhinagar, Jaipur and Ujjain, respectively.
Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw attended the exercise at a temple in Baleswar in Odisha. Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Meenakshi Lekhi were among others who cleaned up temples in different places.