Priest, polls and the beast of communalism
The Hindu
Rise of Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati and AIMIM in Dasna could have an impact on coming Assembly polls
An undulating, dimly-lit road off the shining 14-lane NH 9 takes you to the sprawling Mahakali temple in Dasna town of Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. Constantly under a thick security cover, it is a rare place of worship- one can enter only after showing one’s Aadhaar card to the constable on duty, and a board on the temple reads ‘Muslims are not allowed to enter.’
The place remains in the news because its chief, Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, keeps making headlines with provocative statements laced with hate speech against Muslims. There are multiple videos available on the Internet where he purportedly speaks against Islam and the Prophet and talks of establishing a nation devoid of Islam.