By Zeeshan Kaskar and Atul Ashok Howale
Nuh: A day after Haryana home minister Anil Vij said that around “3000-4000 persons were held hostage in a temple” allegedly by Muslim rioters during the communal clashes in Nuh on Monday, the priest of the same temple refuted such a claim.
Speaking with The Wire, Deepak Sharma, priest of the Nalhar Mahadev temple where Vij claimed that people had been “held hostage” said, “The flow of pilgrims in the temple is generally high in the month of Saawan (considered holy for Lord Shiva devotees). Because of the Shobha Yatra on Monday (that is considered a sacred day for Shiva’s devotees), the number of devotees was very high. They kept coming in and going out (after offering their prayers) during the Shobha Yatra.”
“Logon ko bandhak kya banayenge, parmaatma ki sharan mein the. Achanak pata chala ki mahaul kharaab hai. Stithi Kharab hone ki wajah se andar fans gaye (How is it possible to keep these people hostage? They were in the shelter of the almighty. But suddenly they got to know that the situation outside is not good. Since the situation outside became bad, people got trapped inside (the temple),” Sharma told The Wire when asked whether devotees were “held hostage”.
The state home minister’s controversial claim at a time when the clashes were still going on and not yet under control had served to further enflame the situation and created an alarm on Monday regarding the scale of the clashes.
The Nalhar Mahadev Temple is located far from the main town of Nuh. It is surrounded by hills, and is believed to be in existence since the time of Pandavas, the mythical heroes of Mahabharata…
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here