JANAKPUR, Dec 19: Members of the agitating United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) and local youth clubs on Friday carried out cleansing at Janaki temple following President Bidya Devi Bhandari's visit there on the occasion of the Ram Janaki Vivah Mahotsava.
The locals 'cleansed' the temple, pointing out that offering of worship there by a widow was considered unholy . Also, the use of flowers sniffed by dogs for offering worship to the deities further irked the locals.
On Wednesday, President Bhandari had offered worship to Lord Ram-Janaki with flowers that had been sniffed by security dogs.
“Today we, protesters and locals, sprinkled holy water from the Ganga at the temple premises to purify it as widows are traditionally not allowed to perform worship there, and also no one is allowed to enter wearing shoes but security personnel in leather shoes did just that,” said Dhanusha protest steering committee and Sadbhavana Party district chairman Sanjay Singh.
A team from the Nepal Army deployed for the security of the head of state used sniffer dogs for security inspections inside the temple before the president performed worship.
Likewise, local agitators have protested against the behavior of the Mahanta, the head of the temple, during the President's Pooja. According to them, the Mahantha had a girl in the guise of Sita offer her a garland.
Later on Friday evening, local protesters led by women organized prayers and the kindling of oil-fed lights in the temple premises.
Meanwhile, local civil society members stated that it was a mistake on the part of the president to insist on visiting the temple despite the fact that locals had strongly protested against it.
“The Madhesi protestors had already announced that they would not allow any leader signing the new constitution to enter Madhes. But the president insisted on visiting the temple despite these protests. This is against the decorum of her position,” said a teacher Kari Yadav.
However, Ram Roshan Das 'Baisnav', future successor to the Mahantha, said that there is no stated rule prohibiting a widow from performing worship inside the temple.“There is no rule prohibiting under any pretext someone from the Hindu community performing worship there,” he said.
He admitted that it was a mistake to have the president garlanded by a girl who played the part of Sita during the festival. He also said that they could not stop security personnel with shoes entering the temple even though they knew that doing so was a mistake.
Related story
PADT implements new guidelines for special worship at Pashupati...
