All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi said on Saturday that the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were also responsible for the demolition campaign in Rajasthan’s Alwar, adding that they should apologize to the public.

“I condemn the decision. The city council was led by the BJP and the Congress government accepted the decision to demolish the ancient temple (in Alwar, Rajasthan). Both the Congress and the BJP are equally responsible. They should s ‘apologize to the public,’ quoted the ANI news agency. said the MP from Hyderabad.

Earlier on Friday, Owaisi took to Twitter and said he believed in “religious freedom for all religions”, adding that Alwar’s demolition campaign was a “grave violation”.

“Condemned decision by the BJP-led city council to demolish a pracheen mandir in #Rajgarh, Rajasthan. We believe in freedom of religion for all religions, and this is a serious violation. I hope the BJP- RSS apologizes for its attacks on all places of worship,” he tweeted.

What is the Alwar demolition line?

A 300-year-old temple has been demolished in the city of Rajgarh of Alwar district in Rajasthan. This was done during an anti-encroachment campaign in the city, in which around 150 shops and buildings were also razed.

What is interesting is that even though the opposition BJP tried to rake in the matter, the Congress retaliated and shone the spotlight on the fact that Rajgarh Municipality is controlled by the BJP and the decision had been taken by its board of directors. The state government had nothing to do with the demolition campaign, he claimed.

Alwar collector Nakate Shivprasad Madan said the proposal was passed by the Nagar Palika board and the action was taken as per the decision of the local administration in the presence of the police.

“At the meeting of the board of directors led by its chairman, a proposal to remove the encroachments was adopted. So the general manager issued opinions, and then the demolition was carried out,” said the collector.

Rajgarh SDM Keshav Meena said the General Manager of Nagar Palika issued notices to 86 people on April 6 to remove encroachments on the road and they had time.

The demolition action of more than 100 structures was taken on April 17 and 18, he added.

He added that a temple had been completely demolished but the owners of the temples had removed the idols.

The second temple has been partially demolished but its sanctum sanctorum is safe, he added.

“The one kilometer stretch of road is 50-54 feet wide in the master plan, but has been reduced to 25-28 feet at present due to encroachments. The encroachments of half of the road were removed earlier and the remaining encroachments were demolished on Sunday and Monday,” SDM Meena said.

Other encroachments were mainly due to businesses, he added.

As the anti-encroachment campaign sparked the row, Rajasthan BJP Chairman Satish Poonia accused Congress of being behind the scrapping, while state Congress leader Govind Singh Dotasra , claimed that it was the decision of the city municipality led by the saffron party.

(With PTI inputs)

Posted: Saturday, April 23, 2022, 6:12 PM IST