Uttarakhand govt dissolves 'Devasthanam Board', scraps Act ahead of polls

The BJP government in the hill state of Uttarakhand on Tuesday scrapped the contentious 'Devasthanam Board Act' which enabled the state government to manage 51 temples across the state, including the famous Hindu shrines of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri. Apparently, the move was taken considering a possible adverse impact on its electoral prospects in the forthcoming assembly polls owing to the widespread anger among the Hindu seers and priests,

According to the official sources in Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand, the existing Devasthanam Board has been dissolved. The decision to scrap the Act was taken a day after a sub-committee of ministers submitted its report to the state government recommending scrapping of the Act. The Act came into existence during the previous Trivendra Singh Rawat government.

Although the state BJP leaders denied that the decision to scrap the Act had anything to do with the forthcoming assembly polls in the hill state, which is due in March next year, sources in the saffron party said that the party was wary of its adverse impact on its electoral prospects.

The priests of all the temples and the four important shrines as well as other seers had strongly opposed the Devasthanam Board and warned that they would campaign against the BJP in the polls. They had contended that the Board infringed with their traditional rights to manage the temples and their affairs. The seers had also given a call to march to the state assembly to register their protest against the Board.

The priests at the Kedarnath shrine had threatened to protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when the latter had visited the shrine a few days ago. The BJP and the state government had a tough time in persuading the priests to call off their protest and assured them that the issue would be resolved shortly.

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