Tension grips Valsad over Sai Baba’s idol

The statue with the plinth partially cut. (Express Photo)

Tension gripped Valsad town on Wednesday when devotees of Sai Baba protested against his idol being shifted from a temple. The Bhidbhanjan temple head priest Shivji Maharaj tried to shift the Sai Baba idol under police protection to some other place to which devotees protested. Police called off the shifting after  seeing the anger among the followers of Sai Baba, who have declared a bandh on Thursday and threatened to stage a  dharna outside the Nagar Palika office.

After Shankaracharya Swaroopanand’s statement that worshipping of Sai Baba was against Hindu Sanatan religion, Shivji Maharaj, a trustee of Bhidbhanjan Mahadev Temple in Valsad near Nani Khatriwad, had declared to shift the Sai Baba’s idol from Sai Kutir on July 14. The Sai kutir was recently built in the Mahadev temple by the Sai followers with the help of the Shivji Maharaj.  After people reacted, Shivji Maharaj later said that the plan to shift the idol was shelved till a new site for a Sai Baba temple was identified.

On Wednesday morning, Nani Khatriwad residents spotted several policemen outside the Bhidbhanjan Mahadev temple. When Vijay Patel, leader of Sai Shraddha Group,  was allowed to enter into the temple, he was shocked to see that some  people were cutting the marble plinth on which  Sai Baba’s idol stood.   Later, police intervened  and advised  Shivji Maharaj to stop it.

After the incident, the residents of Nani Khatriwad, under the  banner of Sai Shraddha group, met Valsad district Collector Vikrant Pandey and District Superintendent of police Nirpurna Torwane and handed them a memorandum, stating that their religious and emotional feelings had been hurt, Sai Shraddha Group leader Vijay Patel said.