The BJP has raised voices against non-state subjects, which, it alleged, had sold the temple wealth and land in Kashmir.
“The crime was mostly done by non-state subjects, mahants and pujaris, in nexus with some influential people. Later, many of the mahants left the Valley to some unknown places,” the BJP said in a statement.
Senior BJP leader Ashok Bhatt along with party’s Kashmir media in-charge Altaf Thakur and other senior workers had visited the temples in Srinagar district in the past few days. “We gathered feedback at the grassroots level about the condition of temple structures. We also visited Daram Das Temple, Barbarshah, where mahants and pujaris had plundered gold and sold the temple’s vast land,” Bhatt said.
He said people should raise their voice and demand the temples be managed by state subject mahants, while non-state subject should be restricted from managing temple affairs. Bhatt said some of the temple structures needed immediate renovation and repair.
“The maximum number of temples are managed and run by mahants and pujaris, while some of the structures were left abandoned,” he said.