Bhopal: Religious discourse in Sehore; Politicking begins as BJP, Congress leaders rush to preacher

Bhopal/Sehore (Madhya Pradesh): Disruption during a religious discourse held in Sehore has triggered a political row between ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress with both the sides trying to reach out to preacher to take side with him.

Close on the heels of BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya writing to chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan blaming Sehore district administration for disruption and chaotic situation, a delegation of state Congress met preacher Pradeep Mishra on Wednesday following directives of state Congress president Kamal Nath.

The delegation included former minister PC Sharma, former MLA Ramesh Saxena, district president Balbir Singh Tomar, former MLA Shailendra Patel, MLA Sanjay Shukla, Vishal Patel and Manoj Chawla, as per state Congress unit.

The delegation members listened to Shiva Mahapuran, participated in the aarti, worshiped Vyaspeeth and then met the preacher. The delegation told Pradeep Mishra that Kamal Nath ìwas deeply hurt by the events of February 28î.

The delegation said the manner in which Maharaj Ji announced to postpone programme with tears in his eyes, it saddened lakhs of devotees across the country and the irresponsible move of administration caused outrage among the devotees.

Notably, there was a huge turnout of people in Sehore - some estimating it about 3 lakh on Monday - coming from various parts of the state and even other states to listen to the preacher and collect sacred Rudraksh beads from him, which preacher told devotees, would help them in many ways.

The huge turnout led to traffic jams on roads for hours in Sehore and state highway connecting Bhopal and Indore, forcing district administration and police to prevail over preacher to suspend his bead distribution programme.

As per some officials, what drove administration and police to intervene was not only the traffic jams and chaotic situation in the city but also some ministers stuck in traffic who called up officials expressing annoyance over the situation.

On Tuesday, the BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya demanded action against Sehore district administrative officials in a letter written to the CM. Home minister Narottam Mishra had a talk with the preacher, extending full support to him by government.