Dalits protest demolition of Delhi’s Guru Ravidas temple


Team Udayavani, Aug 10, 2019, 7:22 PM IST

Phagwara: Amid reports of the demolition of a temple dedicated to Guru Ravidas by the authorities on the direction of the apex court at Tughlakabad in New Delhi on Saturday, Dalits held protests at several places in Punjab’s Doaba region.

They blocked the Jalandhar-Amritsar highway, resulting in a traffic jam for over two hours.

Reports of protests by Dalits also poured in from Nawanshahr, Adampur, Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur.

Doaba has the largest concentration of the SC population.

The protesters, led by Sri Guru Ravidas Sadhu Sampardai Society chairman Sant Mohinderpal Pandwa, blocked the National Highway-1 in front of Shiromani Guru Ravidas Temple near Chak Hakeem village on the Phagwara-Jalandhar stretch.

The blockade resulted in long queues of vehicles on both sides of the highway, causing inconvenience to commuters in a hot and humid weather.

As a precautionary measure, the authorities diverted the traffic at several places, officials said.

The SC wing president of the Lok Insaaf Party, Jarnail Nangal, expressed anguish over the Supreme Court order.

The the apex court had ordered the demolition of the 500-year-old temple built at a place “hallowed” by Guru Ravidas, he said.

He alleged that the idol of the guru was desecrated, hurting religious sentiments of his followers.

Raising slogans against the Union government and the Supreme Court, the protesters said the Delhi government and Parliament should adopt a resolution to grant the same land at Tughlakabad for the reconstruction of the temple.

They threatened to block the highway once again on Tuesday if their grievances were not addressed by Monday.

The blockade on the national highway was lifted after the intervention of Phagwara SP Mandeep Singh and SDM Jai Inder Singh.

Sant Mohinderpal Pandwa and other religious leaders, including Sant Krishan Lal Chaheru, Sant Jaswinder Singh Dandia, Sant Tehal Nath, Ambedkar Sena president Harbhjan Suman and Dalit stalwart Jaswinder Dhanda, were among those who observed the dharna.

Udayavani is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel and stay updated with the latest news.

Top News

Kaziranga National Park to be centrepiece of 12th edition of ITM in Assam

Engineer dead, supervisor injured as wire rope snaps at metro site

Karnataka bypolls: Cong leads in Sandur, BJP and JD(S) ahead in Shiggaon and Channapatna

Elections: Vote counting begins Maharashtra & Jharkhand

Counting of votes underway for bypolls to three Assembly segments in Karnataka

Ullal: 70-year-old man allegedly rapes minor girl

Drugs worth Rs 6 crore seized in Bengaluru, five arrested

Related Articles More

Kaziranga National Park to be centrepiece of 12th edition of ITM in Assam

Engineer dead, supervisor injured as wire rope snaps at metro site

Elections: Vote counting begins Maharashtra & Jharkhand

MVA collects letters of support from over 160 candidates to form govt in Maharashtra

Air pollution: SC flags Delhi govt’s failure to implement GRAP-4 curbs on entry of trucks

MUST WATCH

Christmas Cake Fruit Mixing

DK Shivakumar

Rose Cultivation

Geethotsava

Naxal Operation


Latest Additions

Kaziranga National Park to be centrepiece of 12th edition of ITM in Assam

Engineer dead, supervisor injured as wire rope snaps at metro site

Karnataka bypolls: Cong leads in Sandur, BJP and JD(S) ahead in Shiggaon and Channapatna

COP29: Civil society protests climate finance proposal, calls for ‘no deal’ over ‘bad deal’

Elections: Vote counting begins Maharashtra & Jharkhand

Thanks for visiting Udayavani

You seem to have an Ad Blocker on.
To continue reading, please turn it off or whitelist Udayavani.