The Gujarat government led by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel has cleared 108 mazars from the state and will not spare any illegal structures that are part of a “conspiracy”, Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi announced in the Assembly on Wednesday.
He was speaking during the debate on the budgetary demands of the Home and Transport departments and referred to a previous speech by BJP MLA Amit Shah, who had mentioned how a Jain derasar (temple) was shifted from Jamalpur in Ahmedabad during the Congress rule in the state.
Sanghavi said that Patel’s “bulldozer” was roaming in every corner of the state to ensure that no temple or devsthan was removed by any “conspiracy”. He said that no one knew where the “bulldozer” would go next.
He also said that in Uparkot, a historic fort in Junagadh, many mazars had come up without any knowledge of their origin or date. He asked how they could be built suddenly.
He said that the government had demolished 108 mazars in total and freed the state’s properties from encroachment. He said that the encroachment around Somnath temple had also been removed. He said that Patel’s “bulldozer” could enter any street or road, no matter how narrow or wide, and demolish any encroachment that was part of a “conspiracy”.
The government had renovated the Uparkot fort at a cost of Rs 74 crore and Patel had inaugurated it last September.
Sanghavi said that the anti-encroachment drive had begun from Dwarka and had reached Porbandar, Ahmedabad, Surat, Pavagadh, Gir Somnath and Jamnagar.
He also talked about Navratri, when the government had allowed people to perform garba throughout the night. He said that this was done so that the people of Gujarat could worship the goddess and play raas all night. He said that due to the fear of the Supreme Court and the Gujarat High Court, the sound of music was reduced.
He said that by allowing Navratri till late night, the government had brought Diwali to many households. He said that to know how many households, one had to ask the poor, the vendors and the small restaurant owners.
He said that he had made a statement that if the people of his state could not perform garba, then would they go to Pakistan? He said that the next day of his statement, some people from a party had filed a PIL in the HC. He said that they had a problem if the people of the state performed garba till late night. He asked if the people could not perform garba till late. He said that he had to face that situation. He was referring to a complaint by an Ahmedabad resident in the HC, who had objected to reports of Sanghavi having verbally instructed the police to allow garbas after the midnight deadline.
Sanghavi, in his long speech of 1 hour and 40 minutes, sought the approval of the House for the budgetary demands of the Home and Transport departments. The demands of the Transport department were passed by all, while those of the Home department were passed by a majority vote.
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