By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net
With Yogi Adityanath visiting Varanasi on the occasion of Ravidas Jayanti, Padmapati Sharma, a senior sports journalist from Varanasi is looking to take the limelight away by threatening to commit suicide claiming that the UP CM’s behavior is “worse than the Mughal king Aurangzeb”.
Sharma’s threat may not sound serious, but the reason why Sharma made such threat and compared Yogi Adityanath — often regarded as Hindu Hriday Samrat — with Aurangzeb lies in the government’s plan to expand the corridor of Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi in order to provide a clear link between the temple and river Ganga.
The expansion project was proposed around eight years back, but government backed off facing protest from the residents of the colonies which would be acquired during expansion. When Yogi Adityanath came into the power in early 2017, the project was kickstarted again.
Consequently, the government and the temple trust started surveying the area around the temple in order to gain about 450 meters of land for a clear access to the Ganga from the temple. The expansion also becomes controversial as the temple is adjacent to the Gyanwapi mosque which was built during Aurangzeb time, claimed to be built by demolishing part of the Vishwanath temple.
In order to expand the temple’s corridor, the government seeks acquisition of around 167 houses in the premises, which includes Sharma’s house.
In his Facebook post, Sharma wrote, “Yogi will do what Babur-Aurangzeb could not.”
“Government is once again conspiring to decimate Kashi’s old cultural heritage. What is more disappointing that the act is being performed in the regime of BJP-led NDA, which claims to be nationalist,” wrote Sharma.
According to what Sharma states, buildings, houses, and old cultural establishments will be demolished which will come into the radii of 450 meters marked for expansion. “The work invaders like Babur or Aurangzeb could not do, Yogi government — which claims to be the protector of Sanatana dharma — will do, while being aware of the fact that the area marked for acquisition consists of history and culture of thousands of years,” said Sharma.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is also Lok Sabha MP from Varanasi, and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, have both claimed in the past that the development in the city will be done without hampering the old establishments, but the continuous survey and meeting of officials in the proposed corridor area implies towards an alternative fact.
“With the first hit of the mattock on my 175-year-old house situated on Lahori Tola, I will lit myself to protest the same,” added Sharma. “Now there will be war, enough of the begging.”
A meeting between the residents of the houses marked held on Monday, in which it was proposed that they will not hand-over their houses to the government for showcasing Ganga from temple to the VVIPs.
Yogi Adityanath is visiting Varanasi on Wednesday on the occasion of Ravidas Jayanti, where he is also supposed to spend some time taking note of the progress of the corridor expansion work. The eagerness of the government can be understood with the fact that 480-crore project has been handed over to the Principal Secretary Avanish Awasthi, who is also an advisor to the chief minister.