By India Today News Desk: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar slammed self-styled godman Dhirendra Krishna Shastri aka Bageshwar Dham Sarkar for his “the fire of Hindu Rashtra will be ignited from Bihar” remark. ‘Baba Bageshwar’ is in Bihar’s Patna for a five-day congregation.
Slamming Shastri’s comment, Nitish Kumar said that the people making such comments about Hindu Rashtra were not even born when the Constitution came into being.
“After fighting the freedom struggle, the Constitution came into existence and the name given that should be acceptable to everyone…Were all those who are saying this born during the freedom struggle?… What is the need of saying this? Follow any religion you want. But proposals for renaming are surprising. Is that even possible?,” said the Bihar CM. “They must understand the Constitution,” he advised.
The Bihar CM further added that the state government does not interfere with anybody’s faith and that they ensure that everyone gets their right to worship the way they want, reported news agency ANI.
TEJ PRATAP YADAV SLAMS SHASTRI FOR CALLING CROWD ‘PAGAL’
Shastri also stoked controversy during his ‘Divya Darbar’ session when he reportedly called his followers ‘pagal’ as he had to cancel ‘aarti’ citing concerns over the crowd beyond the capacity of the venue.
“There is too much crowd now, an enormous crowd…crazy people have arrived,” Shashtri had said.
Former Bihar CM and RJD national president Lalu Prasad Yadav’s son and Bihar minister Tej Pratap Yadav slammed Shastri for his comment and said, “This Baba is abusing Biharis and calling them ‘pagal’. Politics is being done to divide the country.”
“WHO BABA”, ASKS LALU YADAV
When asked about Dhirendra Shastri not being stopped from holding an event in Patna, Lalu Prasad Yadav said, “Who Baba? Is he a Baba?”
OVER 100 DEVOTEES FALL SICK DURING BABA’S EVENT
Earlier on Monday, over hundreds of devotees fell sick during the ‘Divya Darbar’ session of Dhirendra Shastri at Naubatpur area of Patna.
BJP MP Ram Kripal Yadav accused the state government of mismanagement and said that more than hundreds of devotees attending the ‘Divya Darbar’ of Dhirendra Shastri of Bageshwar Dham fell sick during Sunday’s session due to high humidity and the heavy crowd inside the venue.
The organisers had said that the five-day Hanumanth Katha event will conclude on May 17.
SHASHTRI’S CLAIM TO FAME
The 26-year-old chief priest of the Bageshwar Dham temple burst into national limelight in January, after a well-known rationalist questioned his claims that he had healing powers and could read people’s minds.
Shyam Manav, who runs an anti-superstition movement through his organisation Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, offered to pay Rs 30 lakh if Shastri correctly read the minds of 10 people chosen by him, reported BBC.
The challenge was made when Shastri was holding a camp in Nagpur in Maharashtra – the state where Manav is based.
However, Shastri left the city without taking the challenge.
Since then, he’s given a number of TV interviews where he’s denied running away and said that he was willing to take the challenge, but not in Maharashtra. Instead, he proposed the neighbouring state of Chhattisgarh, a “neutral” venue.
