Sree Siddhivinayak Temple, Mumbai
The Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai has stopped allowing devotees to bring in big garlands and coconuts from Monday.
This, sources at the temple say, is based on Israeli intelligence advice given to Indian agencies.
The Israelis have apparently told Indian authorities that terrorists may use garlands and coconuts in their attacks on Hindu shrines.
The advice is not specific to Siddhivinayak and the temple has decided to do it on its own accord.
”The Dadar police sent us a letter about this threat. We told devotees and vendors to implement these measures,” said Uday Pratap Singh, Trustee, Siddhivinayak Temple Trust.
The trust has built bomb proof walls, installed CCTVs and even put up netting to catch hand grenades lobbed across the wall.
Given that over 10,000 coconuts pass through the temple doors each day temple authorities say it’s practically impossible to check every one of them.
For devotees, the coconut is an essential part of every Hindu ritual.
”It is a question of faith they must allow coconuts, garlands,” said a devotee.
”Without them our entire prayer is incomplete,” added another devotee.
There was a time when people walked in and walked out of the Siddhivinayak temple without any fear.
But today even the apparently harmless and simple coconut has become an object of suspicion for security agencies. It is a sad reality and reflection of the insecure times we live in today.
Source: http://www.ndtv.com/convergence
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