High drama in Kapaleshwar as Trupti Desai holds meet

Devotees threw stones and broke windowpanes and signboard of the Shri Kapaleshwar Devasthan Trust (SKDT) office while police beat up a few men and a woman as Bhumata Brigade delegates held a meeting with the trustees in Nashik on Thursday.

Bhumata president Trupti Desai and other activists were taken out amidst a cordon through the crowd of angry devotees who had crowded the hill temple’s small courtyard.

Ms Desai claimed the police told them that some persons had soda bottles and were waiting near the temple and were beaten up. DCP Srikant Dhivare, however, said that, there was no such plan by anyone to attack Ms Desai and no arrests were made.

Bhumata activists had arrived in Nashik a day earlier as a meeting was scheduled with the trustees of the SKDT.

A small crowd had gathered inside the small courtyard while the meeting began at 2 pm and continued till 5 pm. The crowd continued to raise slogans condemning Bhumata Brigade.

A heavy police cordon was thrown on the temple premises and outside, in the Ramkund area. The angry devotees twice tried to force their way into the meeting hall, which was locked with police on both sides. However, the police managed to drive them off.

When the meeting ended, the police emptied the courtyard to whisk off the Bhumata activists. The devotees then ran inside the Kapaleshwar Temple and locked the doors, fearing that the women would take darshan amidst police bandobast.

However, the police immediately whisked off the activists, put them in a police vehicle and took them to Pune, Ms Desai said.

A devotee, Kothule, said that the devotees were angry because they were not taken into confidence.

Speaking to The Asian Age, Ms Desai said that the trustees said that they had no objection to the darshan. “However, a Gurav community member came and said that only Guravs and Brahmins, both male and women, were allowed in the sanctum, as they had the Samskar. Other community members were not allowed,” she stated.

Mahant Sudhirdas of Kalaram Mandir, who spoke to the media as the trustees did not comment, alleged that there was some one behind Ms Desai who was directing everything.

Ms Desai had earlier gone to Kalaram Mandir and had taken darshan.

“Someone from Nashik called her up to stage agitations, as this temple has a 800-year-old tradition of not allowing women inside the sanctum. Her attitude is duplicitous. She went to Haji Ali Dargah, sat inside her vehicle and went away and has stopped the agitation there,” he said.