By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: A Complaint has been lodged at the Shree Lingaraj Police Station in the Old Town against the alleged desecration of Hindu deities by one Jitu Mishra. In the complaint, it is alleged that the said person, who runs a firm called Sarna Educational & Cultural Services and conducts Heritage Walks for Odisha Tourism, entered the Vaital Temple and desecrated the idol of Ardhanariswara. The temple is a protected monument under the ASI. He has posted a clipping both on Instagram and Facebook in which he is seen removing the vestment of the idol and then crumpling it up and discarding it. The video has gone viral on the internet and raised the hackles of many Hindu organizations.
Prafulla Swain, the complainant, has written that the said person is a regular offender and has been earlier warned by the priests. However, as he has been appointed by Odisha Tourism, he regularly takes visitors to the sanctum sanctorum of the living temples like Parsurameswar, Mukteswar, Kedar Gouri, Vaital, and other shrines. The entry of Non-Hindus is restricted in these shrines, but he blatantly violates this norm.
Advocate Piku Patnaik, Convener of the Jagannath Sena, has condemned the act and said that if action is not taken against the perpetrator, protests would be held both at the ASI office and the Police Station. He has demanded that the person be debarred from entering any temple and that he should be removed from the Odisha Tourism Heritage Walks. Ramesh Shinde, the National Spokesperson of the Hindu Janjagruti Samiti visited the temple on the 5th of March to make an inquiry and will submit his report to the Chief Minister of Odisha and the ASI.
Other Hindu organizations like the Kalinga Sena, VHP, and Bharat Raksha Manch too have raised objections. Doing such a sacrilegious act and then posting the video on Social Media has hurt the sentiments of devout Hindus. The link to the post is below. It can be viewed by clicking on it.
