Varanasi Dal Mandi row: Akhilesh Yadav says heritage must be preserved, not demolished

Varanasi, Jan 19 (LatestNewsX) Amid a growing controversy over allegations that temples and statues were demolished during road-widening work in Varanasi’s Dal Mandi area, close to Manikarnika Ghat, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday attacked the Uttar Pradesh government, asserting that heritage structures must be preserved, not destroyed.

In a cryptic post in Hindi on social media, Yadav wrote, “Heritages are threaded like pearls; they are not demolished, they are cherished.”

The former chief minister accompanied the post with photographs purporting to show statues before and after the redevelopment work. On one image, he wrote, “Ahilyabai statue in debris.”

Yadav’s remarks come days after he launched a political attack on the BJP over the Dal Mandi redevelopment project. On Friday, the SP chief had accused the ruling party of targeting small traders and residents in the area.

“The BJP, in its obsession with benefiting its cronies and associates, is crushing every shopkeeper and household in Kashi’s Dal Mandi. People will no longer tolerate this oppression and tyranny,” Yadav had said, adding that the BJP had “become another name for betrayal”.

The controversy has triggered sharp reactions from the UP government and the local administration, which have rejected the allegations as false and misleading. Officials alleged that images of Hindu deities were being circulated deliberately to hurt religious sentiments, spread misinformation and disturb public harmony.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has categorically denied claims that statues were broken or temples demolished during the Dal Mandi redevelopment.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday, the Chief Minister accused the Congress and other Opposition parties of spreading “false propaganda” over alleged temple demolitions in Varanasi.

CM Yogi claimed that remnants of broken idols from idol-making workshops were being selectively photographed and circulated on social media to falsely project them as demolished temple idols. He further alleged that AI-generated images were being used to mislead the public and derail the ongoing development work.

“Everyone knows that the temples at Manikarnika Ghat are exactly where they were,” the Chief Minister had said.

The controversy centres around the Varanasi administration’s ambitious plan to widen the 650-metre-long Dal Mandi road from its original width of about 3.5 metres to nearly 17.5 metres (around 60 feet). The project aims to ease congestion and improve access to Gate No 4 of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.

As part of the redevelopment, several shops and buildings along the stretch have been identified for demolition, triggering protests and political sparring over heritage conservation, displacement of traders and the alleged impact on religious structures.

skp/rad