Odisha Sikhs protest demolition of mutt

Bhubaneswar, December 22

Members of the Sikh community, including two MLAs from Punjab, staged a demonstration here on Sunday to protest the demolition of the centuries-old Mangu Mutt as part of Odisha Government’s beautification plan near Shri Jagannath temple at Puri.

The demonstrators, holding placards and banners and raising slogans, marched from Kharavela Nagar Gurdwara to Master Canteen square and lashed out at the state government for its decision to pull down the Mangu mutt.

The demolition is being undertaken as per the state governments plan to develop a heritage corridor around the 12th century shrine in the seaside pilgrim town.

Around two months ago, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had appealed to his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik to not raze the religious institution associated with Guru Nanak Dev.

The protestors demanded rollback of the Odisha government’s order to demolish Punjabi Mutt and Bauli Mutt for beautification of Puri.

Members of the Sikh community residing in the state capital staged the protest in which two legislators from Punjab also participated to press for the withdrawal of the order to raze the Mangu mutt, said a demonstrator.

The MLAs, Simarjit Singh Bains and Balwinder Singh Bains, expressed unhappiness, as they could not get an appointment to meet Patnaik to discuss the matter.

The MLAs said the Odisha CM should visit Punjab to see how beatification could be done without demolishing temples and structures of religious importance. — PTI