Saffron leaders give ultimatum to Aligarh administration on 'freeing' Hindu temple near AMU

A ‘Shiva Temple’, close to the prestigious Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in Aligarh, has turned out to be another centre of dispute with the saffron leaders giving one week time to the administration to remove encroachment around it and hand it over to them.

Scores of leaders and workers of Hindu outfits and Karni Sena on Thursday tried to march to the Shiva Temple, which was situated at Shamshad Market near the AMU, but were thwarted by the police.

As the saffron activists remained adamant on marching to the Temple, the police took their leaders to the senior officials, who assured to look into their demand following which they relented.

‘’We have given a week to the district officials to remove all encroachment around the Temple after which we will take possession of the Temple,’’ Karni Sena state unit president Gyanendra Chauhan said.

One Abhishek Khandelwal claimed that his ancestors had constructed the Temple around 125 years back along with a ‘dharmshala’ (inn). ‘’The land of the Temple and dharamshala has been encroached upon and the devotees are unable to go to the Temple,’’ he added.

‘’An old well near the Temple has been covered,’’ he said.

Additional municipal commissioner Veer Singh said that a committee would soon be set up to examine the matter. ‘’Any encroachment there will be removed....further action will be taken after the report of the Committee,’’ he added.

Earlier also the saffron activists staked claims over several ‘ancient’ temples, which were discovered in different parts of the state in the past few days.