close
close

UP bypolls: Drive as Vankhandeshwar temple is purified after Samajwadi Party candidate Naseem Solanki’s visit

UP bypolls: Drive as Vankhandeshwar temple is purified after Samajwadi Party candidate Naseem Solanki’s visit

Days before nine assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh go to bypolls A political row broke out on November 13 over Samajwadi Party (SP) Sishamau candidate Naseem Solanki’s visit to a Kanpur temple.

Solanki had visited the Vankhandeshwar temple and offered prayers and holy water to the Shivalinga during her campaign on the night of Diwali on October 31, incurring the ire of Muslim religious leaders.

After Muslim cleric Mufti Shahbuddin Rizvi Barelvi issued a fatwa against Solanki condemning her visit to the temple, pujaris of the Vankhandeshwar temple purified the premises by sprinkling it ‘gangajal’ all over it and also washed the Shivalinga.

The temple authorities have made it clear that while they have no problem with Naseem Solanki’s visit, they take a firm exception to the Fatwa issued against the temple. SP candidate for her visitand called it an ‘insult’ to the deity.

“We are sanitizing the temple and the Shivalinga because Muslim clerics objected to Naseem Solanki’s visit to the temple and called it unethical. This is an insult to our deity, whom we now prayed with the gangajal,” the temple priest said.

Kanpur’s Vankhandeshwar Temple falls within the Sishamau Assembly constituency boundaries and has a significant population of both Hindus and Muslims, and Solanki’s visit is also seen as an attempt to woo Hindu voters.

This is also one of the reasons why the temple authorities see fit to purify the shrine.

“While we have no objection to anyone visiting the temple, we have a problem with people who come here to achieve their political goals and harbor ill will,” the priest added.

Earlier, Mufti Shahbuddin Rizvi Barelvi condemned Solanki’s visit to the temple and demanded that she read the ‘Kalma’ and apologize publicly.

Later, BJP MLA Surendra Maithani targeted Naseem Solanki and called her visit to Vankhandeshwar temple just an eyewash of the SP people and said the saffron party would win the seat anyway.

Bypolls to the Sisamau Assembly seat were necessitated after Naseem Solanki’s husband and SP MLA Irfan Solanki was disqualified as his name cropped up in a criminal case.

Apart from Sisamau in Kanpur City, the other eight seats up for bypoll in Uttar Pradesh are: Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar), Karhal (Mainpuri), Ghaziabad, Majhawan (Mirzapur), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Khair (Aligarh), Phulpur (Prayagraj). ), and Kundarki (Moradabad).

The bypolls will be held on November 13, while the results will be declared on November 23.

Published on:

November 2, 2024