This was the first Mahashivratri celebrated in Varanasi after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the redevelopment of the first phase of the Kashi Vishwanath temple corridor. The administration was overwhelmed as lakhs of devotees thronged the religious site synonymous with the city.
As soon as the temple bell rang, the whole city was seen worshiping and decorating the Shivling with the pundits.
Almost every crossing or bypass had its own celebration. MahashivratriIn fact, many had hired DJ music systems for children to dance to the hymns of Lord Shiva.
pack
For many, this was a rare sight as lakhs of devotees started queuing at 2am to ensure the first one to see Lord Shiva. Some of these queues extended for three to four kilometers as the morning rush started reaching the temple.
And with Varanasi voting in the final phase of Uttar Pradesh elections on March 7, the festivities were heightened by the government and administration’s focus on the holy city. From Tamil Nadu to Maharashtra, people were seen bringing their respective Lord Shiva idols and palanquins to the temple.
A group of women singing hymns in a circle say that they have come because they are devotees of Lord Bhairavnath, while another group is seen carrying a palanquin with an idol of Lord Bhairavnath to show Lord Vishwanath.
There were also young boys from Delhi Technical University who had come to visit the temple and see the new corridor. Ankit, a DTU student, said, “We had a day off and wanted to go to the temple, so we came.”
in the queue
While the administration ensured proper barricading, exit and entryways and an app for temple management to get the exact number of devotees coming to prepare for the rush, there were some that started from 8 am and even that were standing in the queue. At noon the temple gate was one kilometer away.
According to Divisional Commissioner Deepak Agrawal, till 2 pm, about 2.73 lakh devotees had visited the temple.
Braj Bhushan Ojha, Professor AT Banaras Hindu University At the same time, member and trustee Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust said that after the construction of the corridor, there has been a jump of 20 percent in the number of devotees. People are coming due to spirituality and faith but many people have come to see the new corridor and connecting Ganga with the corridor has also attracted many devotees. This also includes those coming from abroad,” he said.
Demand for divine intervention in elections
With the counting of votes in the five state elections scheduled for March 10, there were rare sightings of priests seeking the blessings of the winners.
One of them was Rajesh Pathela, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate from Punjab’s Muktsar assembly seat. The candidate sought the blessings of March 10 by lying at the feet of the temple priest.
BJP’s campaign around the temple
There were groups in the party’s Mahila Morcha led by Saroj Pandey and National Secretary Vijaya Rahatkar who took out a ‘Damru’ Yatra on the road to the temple. When he celebrated Shivratri, Modi-Yogi’s cheers echoed all around. Crores of women asked people standing in queue to vote for Modi and Yogi.
“This is a huge opportunity for the residents of the city who are also voters. Also, in the last two phases of polling, there are long queues for the darshan of Baba Vishwanath from adjoining areas and seats. This was done to connect voters with the party and show what the BJP has done for Hindu religious places,” said a senior party functionary.
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