Shivpal turns Agra's Ram Barat into a political platform, appeals for vote

The Ram Barat of Agra is known to be one of the grandest events in Western Uttar Pradesh and people arrive from all over the state to see the Barat as well as the 'Janakpuri' that is made from scratch every year in a different part of the city.

EVENT GETS POLITICAL

Being a religious event, the actors who play the role of Ram, Sita and Lakshman are accorded the same reverence as should be accorded to the deities themselves. However, this year, the Janakpuri transformed into a political platform, when UP Samajwadi Party President Shivpal Singh Yadav, who was invited as the chief guest at the event, usurped this religious platform to make an appeal to the people to vote for Samajwadi Party in the coming assembly elections.

The Samajwadi Party supporters then began shouting slogans hailing Shivpal Singh Yadav and the Samajwadi Party, capturing the dais where the 'swaroops' of Lord Ram and Sita were seated and shouted slogans throughout the time Shivpal performed the 'aarti' of the swaroops. This spectacle shocked the Ram devotees who had arrived for a glimpse of their deities.

PRAYER MISCONSTRUED?

Even the Organizing Committee officials looked angry at the lack of discipline in the Samajwadi party ranks. Committee Chairperson Kundanika Sharma told India Today that some overzealous party workers shouted slogans praising Shivpal Singh Yadav. The Committee officials tried to stop them. She explained that Shivpal Singh Yadav was asking for Lord Ram's blessings during the elections and this was probably misconstrued by the devotees as a political speech.

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