Saxena had denied the existence of such orders and accused the AAP leader of “playing cheap politics” on Tuesday.
Addressing a press conference, Atishi said, “The dual face of BJP is revealed through such orders. On one hand, they pretend to protect Hinduism, while on the other, they secretly instruct their appointed officers and LG to demolish temples”.
“There is a religious committee which makes decisions on the shifting of temples or their demolition. It used to come under the home minister of the Delhi government. Till last year, all the decisions of this committee were first placed before the home minister and any action was taken only after his approval. But last year Delhi LG ordered that the demolition of any religious place is a law-and-order issue and hence it comes under Delhi LG and hence Delhi CM or home minister has nothing to do with it. Now the religious committee is directly under Delhi LG,” ANI quoted Atishi as saying.
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She also claimed that neither the chief minister nor the home department has a say on the issue.
“The chairman of the committee is the principal secretary of the home department and he sends the committee’s suggestions directly to Delhi LG for approval,” Atishi said.
Explaining the basis of her allegations, Atishi said the decision to demolish Hindu and Buddhisht temples was decided in a meeting headed by Saxena on November 22.
“In the meeting held on 22 November, it was decided to demolish many temples located in West Patel Nagar, Dilshad Garden, Seemapuri, Gokalpuri, New Usmanpur and Sultanpuri and a Buddhist temple located in Sundar Nagari. All this is in the minutes of the meeting… Delhi LG has approved it and now DMs and SDMs are preparing to demolish these temples,” Atishi charged.
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“Yesterday the LG’s office told the media that there is no order to demolish temples. But this is a lie,” she added.
Atishi’s two-page letter to Saxena on Tuesday listed six structures, located in West Patel Nagar, Dilshad Garden, Sunder Nagri, Seemapuri, Gokalpuri and New Usmanpur.
(With agency inputs)
