Censure motion against Centre's letter seeking permission to demolish temples
New Delhi: The Delhi Assembly passed a censure motion on Tuesday against a letter of the BJP-led Centre to the city government, seeking permission to demolish 53 temples in the national capital. AAP MLA and the party's chief whip Dilip Pandey introduced the censure motion in the House.
Slamming the BJP, Pandey said this demand (for razing 53 temples) exposes the saffron party's hypocrisy. He claimed that the temples sought to be demolished include those of Ram, Krishna, Durga and Sai Baba.
"Of late, the BJP has tried to tell the Hindus of this country that they are true Hindus only if they are part of the BJP. Then they write a letter, asking for permission to demolish temples," Pandey said in the Assembly.
He accused the BJP of destroying a large number of temples in Varanasi and Ayodhya in UP under the garb of development. "Also, let us be absolutely clear that this is not the first such instance involving the BJP. In the spiritual capital of the world, Varanasi, it recently destroyed more than 296 such structures, including temples that were over 250 years old, to construct a shopping complex.
"These people bring down temples for such projects and then claim to be true Hindus. In Ayodhya, 176 temples, including those of Lord Shiva, were destroyed under the garb of development," the AAP leader said.
Kalkaji MLA Atishi said the saffron party's "lust for corruption" is so high that it did not stop at bringing down the houses, shops and balconies of the poor, but went ahead to issue demolition notices against temples too.
"BJP leaders are threatening the temples to pay up from their 'gullak' if they do not want to face demolition. The only reason behind this demolition drive is that the BJP is going to lose power in the MCD. It is its last effort to mint money.
"The BJP's lust for money is not being fulfilled.... Now it has come to demolish 53 temples. This House vehemently condemns the BJP and the Centre, and urges the saffron party to spare our faith and temples and not subject those to their lust," she said.
