The Chief priest of Ujjain’s Mahakal temple and his aides created a ruckus at the temple early Friday after they were stopped by security staff from entering the garbhgriha (sanctum sanctorum).
BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, his son Akash and MLA Ramesh Mendola were present in the garbhgriha for darshans when the incident happened.
As the priests spotted the leaders, they created a ruckus and alleged that early morning Bhashm aarti got delayed by half an hour. They also alleged that temple gates were closed after the politicians reached there and CCTV cameras were also switched off.
Ajay Guru, the chief priests of the Mahakal temple and his aides reached the main gate at 4am for Bhashm aarti but were stopped by the security staff. After a while they were allowed to go but again were stopped at Suryamukhi gate.
In between, the priests spotted Vijayvargiya and others in the Sabha Mandap, after which they lost their cool and threatened to complain to the Chief Minister.
Speaking to the media, the priests said that only priests are allowed in the garbgriha and asked, who permitted the politicians to visit the prohibited place and sought a probe.
For over a year, visitors have not been allowed in Bhashm aarti due to Covid-19 safety protocol.
When passes are issued to the priests, then why are the security staff stopping us at different gates, chief priests Ajay Guru told News18. I will raise a complaint on the matter, he said.
As Vijayvargiya and others were leaving the place, the media asked them about the grievance of the priests but the senior BJP leaders chose to remain mum and left the scene quietly.
Senior Congress leader Sajjan Singh Verma slammed Vijayvargiya and others for destroying traditional rites of the temple and asked them not to nurture the ego of being bigtime politicians.
Ujjain collector Ashish Singh denied that Bhashm aarti was delayed on Friday but added that he will get any grievance probed.
For obvious reasons, the temple administration declined to comment on the said incident but sources claimed that the BJP general secretary visits the temple every Monday in the month of Savan for lord Mahakal’s jalabhishek.
(Inputs Anand Nigam)
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