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Religion and Development: Chandni Chowk's mandir demolition.

 

RELIGION AND DEVELOPMENT: Chandni Chowk's temple demolition.

If you ever visited Chandni Chowk, you would have definitely bowed your head at the 100-year-old Hanuman temple. Recently the temple was demolished after the Delhi High Court order, as part of the Delhi government’s Chandni Chowk Redevelopment Plan. The sentiments of Hindus were hurt. There was a protest organized by the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. The political parties started accusing each other of the cause of this demolition. People demanded that they wanted the temple back. The police advised the shopkeepers at Chandni Chowk to keep their shops closed, in case there was violence. But is it right to be so emotional when it comes to development for the sake of good for the entire society? 

This temple was an illegal construction on the road and was one of the causes of traffic jams in the congested Chandni Chowk. The court passed an order for demolition temple back in 2015 but the development had to wait because all the police and politicians were afraid of the expected outrage if the temple was demolished. This is just one example. A large number other such development project could not be completed because of these religious barriers. The Kanpur-Jhansi highway had to wait for fourteen long years for these very reasons. The question arises that could India stake development in name of religion? People need to understand; the role of religion is to give hope and strength to people to follow the right path rather than curtailing the opportunities that development could provide.


             -VANSH CHAUDHARY


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