18 Temples Demolished in Varoda
BY: SUN STAFF
May 09, VARODA, INDIA (SUN) — Government officials in Varoda have engaged in the recent destruction of 18 Hindu temples as part of a road-widening project. While much of the news coverage on this issue focused on the destruction of a Muslim structure, little was reported about the fact that several Hindu temples were being demolished. English speaking media gave significant coverage to the Muslim reaction, but almost nothing was written about the destruction of the Hindu temples.
Angry protestors hit the streets when the Islamic Darga was taken down in Madurai, while Hindu devotees surrounded their temples as the demolition crews destroyed their places of worship. Hindu protests were peaceful, but heartfelt and loud.
An estimated 40 Hindu temples, some as old as fifty years, were demolished in Tamil Nadu in February of last year. For more than three days, bulldozers churned through the neighborhoods, razing the temples to the ground, under the direction of the Baroda Municipal Corporation
In a recent Rediff article it was noted that "The demolition drive has been on for the last 15 days, as per the master plan of the city. There were orders to demolish any kind of encroachment, whether it's a temple or a mosque or any illegal construction in the house of a senior officer."
The demolitions have not been restricted to any one religious group. A Sai Baba temple met the same fate as a dargah of Rashidudin Rahimtullah, the Sufi saint.
