NEW DELHI: All political parties on Tuesday agreed to support the proposal to legalise the prefabricated steel structure of the Hanuman temple at Chandni Chowk during a meeting with North Delhi Municipal Corporation mayor Jai Prakash. The private member proposal will be brought in the House meeting on Thursday and then sent to Delhi government for the final nod before implementation.
However, the political parties also blamed the BJP-led north corporation for not working out a consensus before removing the original temple or filing an affidavit in Delhi High Court to save the structure from facing any action.
Leader of opposition Vikas Goel said they supported the decision of regularising the prefabricated structure, but the civic agency could have saved the original temple from removal. “BJP has argued that the old temple was removed on court order, but the same situation exists today. How is that they are favouring legalising the new structure? Rather than just filing an affidavit in court, they could have given a justification for not removing the structure. BJP is just doing politics to gain people’s sympathy,” added the AAP councillor.
Senior Congress councillor Mukesh Goel questioned the mayor for not calling an all-party meeting before filing the affidavit in court. “When the temple was defined as an encroachment, both BJP and AAP were busy accusing each other. None of them made any effort to save the structure, nor did they take consent from other political parties. Now, they are eager to take credit for the new structure. If they had wanted, they could have given suggestions in court for beautification of the temple as a part of the redevelopment project rather than removing it,”’ he added.
Prakash said the meeting ended successfully. “Everyone agreed to support the proposal with a positive mind. BJP could have passed the proposal being in majority, but we wanted everyone’s support and contribution,” added the mayor.