Kanpur temple purified by pujaris after Akhilesh Yadav's party candidate's visit

SP Sishamau candidate Naseem Solanki visited the Vankhandeshwar Temple and offered prayers at the shrine during her campaign on the night of Diwali on October 31, following which Muslim religious leaders issued a fatwa against her.

In Short

• Fatwa issued against Naseem Solanki for her visit to the temple
• Temple authorities object to fatwa, call it insult to the deity
• Priests and devotees sprinkle gangajal inside temple, wash Shivalinga

Days before nine Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh go to bypolls on November 13, a political row has erupted over Samajwadi Party (SP) Sishamau candidate Naseem Solanki's visit to a Kanpur temple.

Solanki had visited the Vankhandeshwar Temple and offered prayers and holy water to the Shivalinga during her campaign on the night of Diwali on October 31, inviting the ire of Muslim religious leaders.

After Muslim cleric Mufti Shahbuddin Rizvi Barelvi issued a Fatwa against Solanki condemning her visit to the temple, pujaris of the Vankhandeshwar Temple purified the premises by sprinkling 'gangajal' all over it and also washed the Shivalinga.

The temple authorities clarified that while they do not have any problem with Naseem Solanki's visit, they take a strong exception to the Fatwa being issued against the SP candidate for her visit, terming it an 'insult' to the deity.

"We are purifying the temple and the Shivalinga as Muslim clerics objected to Naseem Solanki's visit to the temple and called it unethical. This is an insult to our deity, whom we are now bathing with the gangajal", the temple priest said.

The Vankhandeshwar Temple of Kanpur falls within the Sishamau Assembly constituency limits and has a sizeable population of both Hindus and Muslims, and Solanki's visit is also being seen as an attempt to woo Hindu voters.

This is also one of the reasons why the temple authorities deem it fit to purify the shrine.

"While we do not object to anyone's visit to the temple, we have a problem with people coming here to achieve their political goals, holding ill-will", the priest added.

Earlier, Mufti Shahbuddin Rizvi Barelvi condemned Solanki's visit to the temple and demanded she read the 'Kalma' and issue a public apology.

Later, BJP MLA Surendra Maithani targeted Naseem Solanki, calling her visit to the Vankhandeshwar Temple a mere eyewash by the SP people and said that the saffron party would win the seat anyway.

Bypolls to the Sisamau Assembly seat were necessitated after Naseem Solanki's husband and SP MLA Irfan Solanki was disqualified as his name cropped up in a criminal case.

Apart from Sisamau in Kanpur City, the other eight seats going for bypolls in Uttar Pradesh are- Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar), Karhal (Mainpuri), Ghaziabad, Majhawan (Mirzapur), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Khair (Aligarh), Phulpur (Prayagraj), and Kundarki (Moradabad).

The bypolls will be held on November 13, while the results will be announced on November 23.