A 90-year-old Jain temple in Mumbai’s Vile Parle was broken down by the BMC (Mumbai’s city office), making people angry all over India. Many people, including religious leaders and common citizens, are protesting against this action.
The BMC says the temple was built without permission on land meant for parks and playgrounds. The temple’s caretakers say they’d asked the court to stop the breaking, but the BMC still went ahead with it, which made people very upset.
People who saw the breaking say that the BMC workers were very rough. They pushed away the people praying there and didn’t handle the holy items with respect. The sacred books and statues were thrown around carelessly, which hurt the feelings of the Jain community very much.
Some people from the area are saying that a hotel owner wanted this land, and that’s why the temple was broken. The BMC hasn’t said anything about this, but people want to know the real reason behind breaking such an old temple.
This incident has started a big discussion about how old religious places should be treated in growing cities. Lawyers say there should be clear rules about keeping old temples safe, while city planners say it’s hard to keep both old buildings and make space for new ones.
The protests are spreading, and people want new laws to protect old religious places. Religious leaders are asking the government to talk to them before taking such big steps in the future, so that religious feelings aren’t hurt while following city rules.
The situation has drawn attention from Pune crime reporters who are monitoring similar cases of religious structure demolitions in Maharashtra.
