The demand for opening up temples and other religious sites, closed due to Covid-19, has gained momentum. The Pahari Mandir Shopkeepers Association along with various religious and cultural organisations on Saturday staged a day long protest at Pahari Mandir main entrance demanding opening up of the temple. The protest was led by Shopkeepers Association, former president Nishant Yadav. The association members stated that with decline in corona cases, all other institutions such as restaurants, hotels, bars, markets which witnessed huge crowds have opened, but the state government is yet to take any decision on opening up temples.
The association members also stated that due to the Corona pandemic, the shops around Pahari mandir are closed for years due to which the financial condition of shopkeepers have worsened. “With no source of income for the past one year, the shopkeepers are facing a hard time to even meet their daily expenses. People have no money even to pay tuition fees for their wards,” added Ashok Purohit, one of the members of the association.
The association member stated that if the government fails to take any decision by September 10, then they will launch vigorous agitation against the government which includes sitting on indefinite dharna against the government decision. The shopkeeper's dharna was day long, but the district administration lifted the dharna.
Opposition BJP too has demanded opening up Pahari Mandir and other temples. State BJP unit president, Deepak Prakash said that while on one hand the Government is yet to take any decision on opening up temples, the JMM/Congress government appeasing particular communities has allotted a room at Assembly for offering Namaz.
Prakash was referring to Jharkhand Assembly's recent decision allotting a separate room where Namaz can be offered in the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly.
Several temples in the State are closed for the year due to Covid 19 pandemic. It may be noted that last month members of several Hindu outfits led by BJP’s district youth wing took out a foot march to Raj Bhavan in Ranchi from Rajrappa’s Chinnamastika temple.
The rally was taken out to demand the reopening of the Chinnamastika temple and other prominent places of worship such as Baidyanath dham in Deoghar and Basukinath temple in Deoghar for the devotees.