Vrindavam 2016.09.14 (VT): The VIP visits cause trouble for the devotees in Vrindavan. The devotees, who come from far distance places, to have darshan of the Vrindavan temples, suffer due to the VIP visits. They have to wait patiently outside the temples until the darshan of the VIP is over. Sometimes the rule of the temple is also compromised, as it happened when the then Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh Shri Alok Ranjan visited Banke Bihari Temple, and took prasad inside the temple campus, with his family and the officials from the District Administration.
Another such incident occurred on Tuesday, when the Inspector General of Police (Agra Zone) Shri Sujit Pandey visited Thakur Bankey Bihari temple. The Police officials of the district made special arrangement for the IG’s visit, breaking the traditions and causing trouble for the other visitors and devotees.
During the visit of Inspector General, the police stopped other devotees to even enter the premises of the temple. The local street vendors, beggars and florists were removed from their places outside the temple. The devotees and regular visitors of thetemple were stopped to offer their parikrama of the temple, by locking the parikrama doors. The door outside the water dispenser was also locked by the Police which restricted devotees to quench their thirst.
According to the rules of the temple, all the ministers and senior government officials should take darshan of Thakur Ji like an ordinary devotee, irrespective of their rank, security and official stature. But the years old tradition was again broken yesterday as the other devotees had to suffer due to the IG Sujit Pandey’s visit.
IG Sujit Kumar along with SSP Babloo Kumar inside Bankey Bihari temple
Sewayat and member of temple’s organising committee Dinesh Goswami said that Police barricaded the temple at around 5:30 pm yesterday and stopped the devotees to use VIP passage since then for two hours. Mr. Pandey reached the temple at around 7:30 pm. Street vendors, florists, beggars and widows were also driven away making the area look deserted for couple of hours.
VIP corridor and section inside the temple were also vacated from the devotees an hour before the visit. Those who paid to utilise the VIP facilities left stranded for hours. Police even made a temporary barricading with ropes outside the temple and locked the parikrama doors which restricted the devotees from performing parikrama around the temple.
The swayat Goswamis have registered their complaint with the temple organising committee, about the VIP arrangements for the IG. They said that all are equal in front of the Lord and that even ministers don’t get such high security, that IG got yesterday.
When Shri Pandey was asked about the incident, he termed it as unfortunate, as he was not aware of the special arrangement made by the district police.
Temple administration said that the IGs visit was very sudden and they were informed hardly couple of hours before the visit. Due to which the proper arrangements were not made, and devotees had to suffer for around three hours. SSP Babloo Kumar was also accompanied the IG in the temple.
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