In Shahpur Jat temple, the idol of Sai Baba, established in 2009, is still missing
Old Shiva Temple at Shahpur Jat in New Delhi; (Photo: Rajwant Rawat)
On April 6, 2021, 50-year-old Padam Panwar, a member of the managing committee of Purana Shiv Mandir in Delhi’s Shahpur Jat area, was arrested for allegedly “uprooting” a Sai Baba idol in the temple. The idol was removed, replaced by a Ganesha on 25 March. A video later surfaced showing Panwar pointing at the idol and saying: “He was not a god, he died in 1918, he was a Muslim.” ,mullah issays another voice in the background.
Panwar, who is out on bail, now claims that the video was fake and claims that the tradition of replacing idols when they are old is in Hinduism. Others are not convinced. An FIR was registered after nine Sai Baba devotees approached the police.
Another video is going viral in which Panwar is seen sitting next to yeti Narasimhanand Saraswati, a riot-instigating Hindu priest from UP. Saraswati blessed him to “break and throw” the idol.hypocrite (fraudulent) Sai”. “If I had a way, jihadis like Sai would never be able to enter temples,” he is heard saying. In January this year, Saraswati, the head of the mighty Dasna Devi temple, was given a He was arrested after his speech at the Dharma Sansad (religious congregation), in which he called on Hindus to take up arms against Muslims.
Sai Baba, a spiritual leader, is believed to have lived in Shirdi, Maharashtra in the 19th century. While not much is known about his religious origins, the Shri Sai Baba Sansthan Trust, which runs the temple in Shirdi, says he preached a “universal religion of love” uniting Hindus and Muslims. However, many Hindu spiritual leaders claim that worshiping Sai Baba “contaminates the flow of”. eternal religion”, In August 2014, a resolution to this effect was also passed by the Shankaracharya of Dwarka Peeth Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati.
Old Shiva Temple at Shahpur Jat in New Delhi; (Photo: Rajwant Rawat)
Meanwhile, in the Shahpur Jat temple, the Sai Baba idol, installed in 2009, is still missing. However, a poster of Sai Baba adorns one of the walls. Panwar continues to be a member of the temple committee, but no one wants to talk about the incident saying it was an unnecessary controversy.