Crime Today News
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Asha Nautiyal on Sunday called for a ban on the entry of non-Hindus in Uttarakhand’s Kedarnath for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.
“I conducted a meeting with locals and they informed me that non-Hindus are hurting the religious sentiments there,” Kedarnath MLA told PTI. “People from across the world go to worship Baba Kedar so those people [non-Hindus] should be banned from going there. The local businessmen also demanded that such things should be discouraged.”
Nautiyal’s comment was in response to a reporter’s question about the alleged sale of meat and liquor near the Hindu religious site.
The Kedarnath temple is among the four major Hindu shrines in Uttarakhand. The shrine is located in the Rudraprayag district and is dedicated to the Hindu deity Shiva. Kedarnath is a jyotirling, which according to Hindu religious texts, are the most sacred devotional representations of Shiva.
VIDEO | Demanding no entry of non-Hindus trying to hurt the sentiments of pilgrims, Kedarnath MLA Asha Nautiyal says, “I had conducted a meeting with local businessmen, they said that non-Hindus are doing activities which are hurting the sentiments of Hindu pilgrims. They are… pic.twitter.com/782fPGgTJA
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) March 16, 2025
Nautiyal also sought to bar non-Hindus from all four sites that are part of the “Char Dham Yatra”.
“Since I am an MLA, I have the responsibility to raise it [the matter],” PTI quoted Nautiyal as saying. “The pilgrims should go back from Char Dham with the faith with which they arrive.”
The Char Dham Yatra is a Hindu pilgrimage to four shrines of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri, all of which are in Uttarakhand. The yatra will begin on April 30 when Gangotri and Yamunotri will open, followed by Kedarnath on May 2 and Badrinath on May 4. These places are difficult to access in winter because of snowfall.
The Kedarnath legislator’s comment triggered a controversy on Sunday.
The Opposition Congress said that Nautiyal’s statement was an attempt to spread hatred, PTI reported.
Suryakant Dhasmana, the vice president of Congress’ state unit, told PTI: “Be it Maha Kumbh, Holi, Jumme ki Namaz or the Char Dham Yatra, the BJP repeatedly targets the minority Muslim community to disrupt communal harmony. This is their national agenda.”
The BJP was trying to divert attention away from matters such as unemployment and inflation, the Congress leader was quoted as saying.
Former Chief Minister Harish Rawat said that the Hindutva party was “attaching everything with religion”, PTI reported.
“It is a habit of BJP leaders to make sensational remarks,” the Congress leader said. “Uttarakhand is a devbhoomi and how long will you attach everything with religion? They are doing this because they don’t have anything to tell people.”
Manveer Singh Chauhan, the BJP Uttarakhand unit’s media in-charge, told The Indian Express that the party supports Nautiyal’s statement “because it is about the sentiments of Hinduism”.
“These four pilgrimages are important in Sanatan Dharma and people take this pilgrimage in lakhs there every year,” Chauhan was quoted as saying.
Chauhan added that business owners in Kedarnath had alleged that Muslims were selling meat and liquor in the area.
“It’s wrong to conduct such businesses in this holy abode,” he told the newspaper. “There are liquor shops as well in the guise of other businesses.”
📰 Crime Today News is proudly sponsored by DRYFRUIT.CO – A Brand by eFabby Global LLC
Design & Developed by Yes Mom Hosting
