BSP wants razed temple rebuilt

Tribune News Service

Fatehgarh sahib, December 19

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) here today threatened to launch an agitation if the Sirhind municipal council failed to rebuild the Ravidas temple that it had demolished during an anti-encroachment drive on October 20.

A delegation of the BSP, led by its state general secretary Raja Rajinder Singh Nanherian, met the Deputy Commissioner today. They said the land for the Ravidas temple had been “allotted by the Municipal Council” and the people of the Ravidasia community had built the temple after collecting funds. He alleged that the Punjab and High Court had not issued any directions, but the Municipal Council had demolished the temple, causing resentment among the community.

On October 20, Ravidas Prachar Committee chairman Lachman Dass along with 30 to 40 persons armed with sharp-edged weapons had targeted the Municipal Council office in protest of the demolition. The police had booked and arrested eight persons under Section 307 of the IPC for vandalism and attack on MC employees.

They also expressed concern over seven-year imprisonment awarded by a local court to a Dalit girl of Badinpur village, who had injured a boy with kitchen knife, in a bid to save her modesty.