Yogi Adityanath backs VHP's 'mandir in place of dargah' plan

LUCKNOW: UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath said on Sunday that he endorsed the VHP demand to rebuild the Surya temple in place of the Ghazi Baba dargah in Bahraich and construct a memorial in the same district.

The VHP has been demanding rebuilding of the Surya temple in memory of Raja Suheldev, who fought against Ghazi Saiyyad Salar Masud in the 11th century.

VHP claims that the shrine was built after demolishing the temple. Yogi said the VHP's demands would be fulfilled. "I agree with the validity of the VHP's demands," he said.

Post-2014 election victory, the BJP has raised the Suheldev temple issue as well, with party chief Amit Shah holding a huge rally in Bahraich to unveil his statue and launch a book on him.

A month later, the NDA government started the Suheldev Express from Ghazipur to Anand Vihar in Delhi.

Then, just before the UP elections, the saffron party entered into an alliance with the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, whose founder is Om Prakash Rajbhar.

His party was given eight seats to contest and won four of them. Rajbhars are OBCs and considered key to elections in east UP.

Speaking at VHP's 'Hindu Vijayutsav' programme in Lucknow to mark the victory of Raja Suheldev over Ghazi Masud, who was the nephew and army general of Mahmud of Ghazni, the CM sought to rename Lucknow's Sainik School after Raja Suheldev as well.

"There's nobody in the country who would not give Ashfaqullah Khan, Abdul Hameed and APJ Abdul Kalam their due honour, but we will have to decide whether Ghazni, Ghauri, Khilji, Babar and Aurangzeb deserve any regard," said Yogi.

Ghazni and his nephew plundered the country and demolished monasteries and temples to divide the country," he said. "After successive invasions, the country forgot heroes like Suheldev who united many smaller kingdoms."