Kalu Lal Gurjar said the Congress did not perform proper rituals while shifting to the new Assembly. File
Following the death of one of their colleagues Wednesday, and amid a bout of swine flu that has led to the death of another MLA while two others are undergoing treatment, legislators in Rajasthan have called for a “purification” of the Assembly to get rid of “ghosts”. Government chief whip Kalu Lal Gurjar Thursday said some MLAs have called for puja path to get rid of the dosh (curse). “If there is a puja path, a thorough purification, then may be, if there is ‘that’ kind of dosh, it can be done away with,” he told the media.
Asked whether ghosts or spirits exist, Gurjar said, “I believe that souls sometimes fail to regain bodies and so, for some reason, they haunt; and so they can do such things and sometimes such things are true.”
He told The Indian Express that the subject came up while some MLAs were gathered around CM Vasundhara Raje Wednesday following the demise of party MLA Kalyan Singh Chouhan. “I haven’t seen any such thing but there is certainly something. Ever since this Assembly was constructed, the 200 MLAs don’t get to sit together. Our MLA Kirti Kumari passed away, and within days of the bypoll another MLA died. About 10 of us discussed this with the CM, and the support for this is beyond party lines. Apparently, the Congress did not do proper rituals while shifting to this Assembly,” he said.
MLAs cited death or incarceration of colleagues in recent years to justify the call for “purification” through havan. BJP MLA Habibur Rahaman Ashrafi Lamba said, “This has been under discussion ever since the new Assembly was built. Everyone knows it was built over a shamshaan (cremation ground), there was also a qabristan (grave). This should be looked into.”
Congress MLA Dheeraj Gurjar slammed Kalu Lal and others “for spreading superstition”. He raised the issue in the House on Thursday. “I said that you see ghosts because probably you got them killed… The Assembly isn’t inauspicious. It is a temple of democracy,” he said.
Hours after BJP MLA Chouhan passed away Wednesday, BJP MLA Amrita Meghwal was informed that some medical tests she had got done were positive. Another BJP MLA, Narpat Singh Rajvi, is being treated for swine flu. Last year, Kirti Kumari died while undergoing treatment for swine flu.
An Assembly official said that so far nearly two dozen MLAs, including Meghwal, have been tested for swine flu. Rajasthan, especially Jaipur, has been badly affected by swine flu this year.
For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App
