Devotees Bear the Brunt of BSY-HDK Dharmasthala Darshan
Report: Prakash Samaga
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Beltangady
Beltangady, Jun 27: As the two political rivals, chief minister Yeddyurappa and state JD(S) chief Kumaraswamy descended on the temple town of Dharmasthala on Monday June 27, it was the devotees who had to bear the brunt.
The large number of devotees who had come from faraway places to the Shree Kshetra had to wait in queue and go through a tough time amid heavy rain, all thanks to the ‘verbal challenge’ taken up by the political duo.
Never in the 800-year-old history of the holy place have politics, mob clashes and chaos been observed in the temple premises. Though there was no ‘truth test’ as said earlier, factors like shouting slogans and talking in high-pitched voices disturbed the devotees who had come to experience peace. Though it is true that protests, allegations or differences of opinion are part of any democratic system, such differences should be solved within their ambit and not brought to holy places such as the Shree Kshetra, the people felt.
Police however did their best when the supporters of JD(S) at one point of time tried to express their adulation for the former CM by crossing the barricade placed in front of the Shree Kshetra.
A devotee speaking to daijiworld said he had come with his wife and a young daughter from Shimoga, but due to delay in the scheduled darshan time they were upset. The crowd and slogans just in front of the temple and the police presence all made it a disturbing sight, he said.
Later reports stated that H D Kumaraswamy apologized to the devotees for the inconvenience caused by his and CM Yeddyurappa's visits.
Though, in comparison to other days, an average number of devotees visited Shree Kshetra on June 27, women, children and infants visited in large numbers. They were made to wait in long queues for more than two hours, which evoked from them a response that ‘genuine concern for the people’ should be the motto of any politician and not ‘self prestige’.