ANOTHER OFFICIAL AT MP GOVT ‘RELIGIOUS YATRA’

BHOPAL :Days after a district collector had sparked row by participating in the Madhya Pradesh government’s Ekatm Yatra dedicated to Adi Shankara, another official joined the controversy on Tuesday, welcoming the statewide monthlong exercise in his district by placing on his head the ‘charan paduka’ (symbolic wooden slippers) of the 8th-century Hindu philosopher. Vidisha district magistrate Anil Suchari defended his stance saying he didn’t violate any norm. “The yatra has been organised by the government and not the party (BJP). So there is nothing wrong if I welcomed it and placed the ‘paduka’ on my head. Adi Shankaracharya had contributed immensely in the cultural integration of India. There is nothing wrong if an Indian pays respect to this iconic figure,” he said. The 35-day-long yatra began on December 19 to collect construction materials for the proposed 108-feet statue of Adi Shankara to be built in Omkareshwar on the banks of river Narmada. As per the state government’s proposal, the foundation stone will be laid on January 22, when the yatra culminates.

The opposition Congress has accused the government for indulging in a “politically motivated” exercise with the state slated for assembly elections later this year. It also slammed the officials for participating in the yatra, saying they were “behaving as BJP workers”.

“The job of a collector is (overseeing the) administration. His job is not participating in such yatras which have been organised for political reasons in the election year. I am surprised as to how collectors in Mandla, Vidisha and Ujjain districts have participated in the yatra,” said senior Congress leader Manak Agarwal.

On January 3, Mandla collector Sufiya Farukhi, too, had placed the ‘charan paduka’ on her head while welcoming the yatra in her district.

CONGRESS SAID THE GOVERNMENT’S YATRA IS POLITICALLY MOTIVATED AND ACCUSED DISTRICT COLLECTORS OF ‘ACTING AS BJP WORKERS’