The Bharatiya Janata Party, on Saturday staged protest agitation 'ghantanad' and demanded to reopen places of worship in Maharashtra.
As a part of the agitation, a loud bell-ringing protest was organized in the villages and towns of Maharashtra on Saturday and it was started from Shri Ganesh Mandir Sansthan in Kalyan Dombivali.
The agitation will take place in 70 places in Thane district and 700 places in the entire Konkan region during the day, informed the party's state general secretary, MLA Ravindra Chavan. He expressed satisfaction over the presence of devotees in the BJP's agitation. He said it was a 'ghantanad' (bell ringing) movement to wake up the sleeping government. The closure of temples had adversely affected lakhs of livelihoods, says the BJP.
The protest will be staged outside every temple, such as in Shirdi, Pandharpur, Tuljapur, Kolhapur, Trimbakeshwar, among others.
“The Centre has already issued directives allowing state governments to lift lockdown from all places of worship, including temples. Following this, several temples have reopened and are fully functional. Unfortunately, the Maharashtra government has not made a decision to reopen temples,” state BJP president Chandrakant Patil said.