MP: No ASI nod as yet for Uma Bharti's 'jalabhishek' programme in Raisen fort temple

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has not yet acceded to the request of senior BJP leader Uma Bharti to organise 'jalabhishek' in a temple in a fort in Madhya Pradesh's Raisen, which is open for prayers only once a year on Mahashivratri, an official said on Sunday.

Earlier, Bharti had written to the Raisen collector asking him to make arrangements for the water ritual that she wanted to conduct on Monday post Navratri at the temple, which is situated in Raisen Fort and is under the control of the ASI.

''We tried but have not received permission from ASI so far about opening the temple for Uma Bharti's programme. We will apprise her of the situation when she arrives here,'' Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) LK Khare told PTI on Sunday evening. District Collector Arvind Dubey had written a letter to Bharti earlier informing her that permission from ASI had been sought.

The letter had also mentioned that it was beyond the district administration's jurisdiction to allow worship in the temple's sanctum sanctorum.

Bharti had, on Thursday, said she wanted to perform 'jalabhishek' at the temple, called Someshwar Dham, after coming to know about it from a media report on Pandit Pradip Mishra, renowned for his events in which religious lore is narrated.

She had said this ritual is performed on the first Monday after Navratri.

As per historian Rajiv Lochan Choube, Afghan king Shershah Suri defeated ruler Puranmal deceitfully in 1543, took over the fort and temple, which remained locked since, with a mosque too coming up at the site.

Post Independence, the Raisen Fort and temple came under the supervision of the Central Archaeology Department, and then chief minister Prakash Chandra Sethi allowed worship for one day on Mahashivratri following a public agitation in 1974, Choube had said.