Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar on Monday participated in the agitation at Pandharpur and demanded the reopening of all places of worship. Ambedkar was later allowed by the Solapur administration to visit the Vitthal temple with 15 others.
The local administration had barricaded the roads leading to the temple in Pandharpur ahead of the protest by VBA to demand reopening of temples in Maharashtra. Ambedkar’s agitation was supported by Warkaris and their organisations.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has assured that the government will open temples in the next eight to ten days and will issue Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for devotees visiting the temples, Ambedkar informed.
“Temples, mosques, Buddha Monasteries and Jain temples will be allowed to reopen for people in Maharashtra soon. I have received this information from the Chief Minister,” Ambedkar said while warning that if the promise is not kept, they will return to Pandharpur.
During the march, Ambedkar was accompanied by a massive crowd but the number of people later reduced to 15 after which the administration allowed him to visit the temple. The Solapur district collector responded to Ambedkar’s letter and allowed 15 people to enter the temple after talking to the government.
Meanwhile, the BJP in Maharashtra staged a statewide agitation on August 29 against the Uddhav Thackeray government demanding to reopen temples in the state. The BJP workers, corporators, MLAs and office-bearers including Chandrakant Patil participated in the ‘ghantanand andolan’ or bell-ringing agitation.
They gathered outsides temples across Maharashtra and chanted hymns demanding the state government to open temples. Patil informed that the agitation was held outside 10,000 temples across the state.
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