PUNE: The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) on Monday demanded immediate opening of religious places with some restrictions by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. The party warned that if the state did not do so within a week, it would be forced to open the doors of temples itself. BJP Maharashtra president Chandrakant Patil, mayor Murlidhar Mohol, and BJP Pune president Jagdish Mulik led an agitation in front of the Kasba temple for the purpose.
Patil said, “This government’s only priority has been to open wine shops as these are a source of revenue. Before assuming office as chief minister, Thackeray used to visit temples but he has changed his stand now.” Thackeray and his party have become secular after entering an alliance with the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Patil taunted.
According to BJP leaders, “Citizens cooperated with the state government during the first and second wave of covid-19 however the government allowed everything to open except religious places. There are many people who depend on religious places for an income.” They added that the state government can open these places while taking precautions such as allowing only a few people inside at a time.