Protesters had set up a sit-in on the street next to the Gnana Saraswati Temple and were calling for the arrest of Renjerla Rajesh, a Bharatha Nasthika Sangham leader.
Hyderabad: A shutdown was maintained on Tuesday in the Basar town of Telangana’s Nirmal district because of purported insults to the Hindu goddess Maa Saraswati made by atheist Renjarla Rajesh.
Protesters had set up a sit-in on the street next to the Gnana Saraswati Temple and were calling for the arrest of Renjerla Rajesh, a Bharatha Nasthika Sangham leader. Near the temple’s main gate, priests and employees joined the protest.
On the Nizamabad-Bhainsa route, residents and traders were also staging a rasta roko (road blockage) to protest Rajesh’s comments. The demonstration caused a traffic gridlock. The demonstrators were yelling demands for Rajesh’s arrest.
The bandh call issued by several Hindu organisations resulted in the closure of stores, businesses, and educational institutions. They were requesting Rajesh’s arrest and that the police use the Preventive Detention (PD) Act.
The Saraswati temple is located in Basar town on the banks of the Godavari River. It is thought to be where the Akshara Abhyasam rite will take place. A particular prayer is offered to Goddess Saraswati before to the start of a child’s formal education. Devotees want the priest to have their kids write their first letters after the procedure in slate form.
The state president of the Atheist Society, Bairi Naresh, and another official, Dolu Hanumanthu, were detained last week by the Vikarabad district police for reportedly uttering disparaging remarks against Hindu deities, particularly Ayyappa Swamy.
On December 19, Naresh delivered the remarks in Kodangal, and three days later, a video of his lecture went viral on social media.
Ayyappa worshippers protested across the state as a result, calling for Naresh to be arrested right now and to face harsh punishment. Additionally, they had reported him to the police in a number of locations.
Later, the Karimnagar police detained another guy, Bairi Agni Tej, for making disparaging comments against Ayyappa Swamy on social media.
Police claim he posted something negative on Facebook on December 30. He was detained for causing unrest and offending the religious feelings of Ayappa worshippers.
The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), the party in power, has come under fire from the BJP and other Hindutva organisations for enabling atheists to incite anti-Hindu feeling among the populace by encouraging atheists to organise meetings in villages under the guise of Ambedkar organisations.
However, the BRS has denied the accusations and made it clear that the government would take harsh action against anyone who hurts the religious emotions of any segment of the community.
Leaders of the Bharatha Nasthika Sangham, Bairi Naresh and Renjarla Rajesh, have come under fire from these organisations for making disparaging remarks about Hindu Gods and Goddesses.
