Railways stop temple demolition, Uddhav’s party takes credit

Stunned by the unexpected results of the assembly elections, a beleaguered Shiv Sena (UBT) lost no time in taking up the cudgels for saving the Hanuman temple at Dadar central railway station, which the railways want to demolish, in a bid to underline its Hindutva agenda ahead of the BMC polls

MUMBAI: Stunned by the unexpected results of the assembly elections, a beleaguered Shiv Sena (UBT) lost no time in taking up the cudgels for saving the Hanuman temple at Dadar central railway station, which the railways want to demolish, in a bid to project its Hindutva agenda ahead of the BMC and other local bodies poll.

Railways stop temple demolition, Uddhav’s party takes credit

The party’s MP Anil Desai approached union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnav and succeeded in stopping the action on the 80-year-old temple.

“I came to know from the residents of Dadar, which is my constituency, about a move by railway authorities to demolish Shri Hanuman Temple situated near central railway platform number 12 at Dadar East. Assistant division engineer (Byculla) central railway has sent a notice to Shree Hanuman temple authorities vide letter dated November 19 alleging that this is an encroachment, an unauthorised temple, on railway land. Railway authorities also gave seven days’ time to this temple failing which it will be demolished,” wrote Desai in a letter to the railway minister.

He also pointed out that the temple is from the pre-independence era and requested the minister to instruct the concerned railway officials to withdraw the action.

Later, in a social media post, Desai said that the party succeeded in its efforts to save the Hanuman temple and called the BJP government at the Centre anti-Hindu. “Railway authorities had issued a notice to demolish the Hanuman temple at Dadar. I immediately wrote a letter to railway minister Ashwini Vishnav and, also, met him personally and succeeded in saving the temple,” posted Desai.

The party’s official social media handle, too, posted about the railway notice, and the subsequent efforts of its MP to save the temple.

After the poor performance in the assembly polls, chief Uddhav Thackeray had told former corporators from his party to reach out to the people in their area and let them know that the party has not abandoned the Hindutva agenda.

In line with the strategy, the Thackeray faction leaders have also questioned the Modi government on the security of Hindus in neighbouring Bangladesh, hoping to showcase the party as being committed to protecting the interests of all Hindus.