Politicians throng 600-year-old Ghaziabad temple to seek blessings before Lok Sabha polls
Spread across 12 bighas of land, the temple is located in the heart of the Ghaziabad city -- behind the MMG Government district hospital on GT Road. The temple is also famous among the devotees and kanwariyas.
The 600-year-old Dudheshwar Nath temple in Ghaziabad — touted to be one of the oldest temples of lord Shiva in western Uttar Pradesh – is a favourite destination for politicians, especially during the election season.
The 16th Mahant of the temple, Mahant Narayan Giri, says politicians arrive here to get blessings ahead of the elections.
Spread across 12 bighas of land, the temple is located in the heart of the Ghaziabad city -- behind the MMG Government district hospital on GT Road. The temple is also famous among the devotees and kanwariyas. According to the temple management, around 20 lakh Kanwariyas offer Gangajal here during the Kanwar Yatra.
“Prominent leaders such as Jagganath Mishra, Rajnath Singh and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi have visited the temple. Modi visited the temple in the 1980s. People such as Narayan Dutt Tiwari and a host of other leaders have visited the temple to offer prayers. This election season, all four candidates have come to the temple to seek the lord’s blessings,” Mahant Giri said.
He added that Surendra Kumar Munni – whose candidature was later cancelled by the Samajwadi Party – had also come to the temple to offer prayers -- both before and after getting the party ticket. The SP, however, later gave Suresh Bansal the ticket from the area.
“During 2014 elections, Aam Aadmi Party candidate Shazia Ilmi had also visited the temple. All politicians make it a point to visit the temple. They may come here to attract people as the temple is highly revered among the masses. But we simply perform puja for them – like all other. Even chief minister Yogi Adityanath had recently visited the temple before attending his election rally,” he maintained.
On March 31, minutes after landing at Ramlila Ground, chief minister Yogi Adityanath had headed straight to the temple, where he offered prayers along with BJP candidate General (retd) VK Singh. When Adityanath returned to the Ramlila Ground to address the public, the Mahant came with him and was seen seated with the CM at the venue.
“Adityanath is also the Mahant of the Gorakhnath Math in Gorakhpur. He requested me to accompany him and I could not decline out of respect,” Giri added.
The temple is visited by thousands of devotees each day who arrive to offer prayers from across the city.
“Politicians generally go to religious places during elections and offer prayers and seek blessings of lord Shiva for their win. Many of them offer prayers but some of them also go to such places to garners votes as religion is attached to the sentiments of people. So the politicians feel that they can garner votes and make inroads into voters of a particular community,” said Veenu Baba, an elderly resident of Chandrapuri.
