Raipur: A political row has erupted in Chhattisgarh after a video surfaced showing Bageshwar Dham head and spiritual preacher Dhirendra Shastri arriving in Raipur in a government aircraft and an on-duty police officer touching his feet, prompting the Congress to allege misuse of public money and violation of official conduct.
The Bharatiya Janata Party defended the incident, calling the police officer’s gesture an expression of personal faith, and accused the Congress of being opposed to Sanatana Dharma.
Shastri arrived in Raipur on Thursday along with State Minister Guru Khushwant Saheb ahead of a religious discourse in Bhilai town of Durg district. The video, which quickly went viral on social media, shows the preacher and the minister stepping out of the aircraft. The uniformed police officer is seen first saluting the minister before removing his cap and shoes and touching Shastri’s feet.
As the clip spread widely, questions were raised over both the conduct of the police officer while on duty and the use of a state-owned aircraft for transporting a religious preacher. Several social media users criticised the episode, calling it a misuse of taxpayers’ money and a mockery of uniformed service ethics. Others defended the officer, arguing that he followed protocol by saluting the minister and later expressed his personal religious belief by offering obeisance to the preacher.
The Congress mounted a sharp attack on the BJP-led government over the issue. Chhattisgarh Congress communication department head Sushil Anand Shukla said sending a government aircraft to bring Dhirendra Shastri amounted to a “wastage of public money” and a “misuse of the state exchequer”. He questioned under which constitutional provision the aircraft was arranged for Shastri and demanded a formal clarification from the government.
Shukla also claimed that Shastri was neither a recognised religious head nor a peethadhishwar of any established shrine or ashram. He accused the preacher of acting against India’s composite culture and alleged that his actions contributed to social discord, which he said went against the inclusive values of Sanatana Dharma.
Invoking Lord Hanuman, Shukla said the deity symbolises love, tolerance, bravery and forgiveness, and those who earn a livelihood narrating his tales should reflect these values in their conduct. He added that superstition and hypocrisy, he claimed, could not survive for long.
The BJP rejected the Congress’s allegations. State BJP chief spokesperson and MP Santosh Pandey said there should be no objection to a police officer offering respect to a religious guru out of personal faith. He argued that just as Muslim railway and airport staff offer namaz at workplaces, a Hindu officer bowing to a guru should not be politicised.
On the use of the government aircraft, Pandey countered the Congress by asking it to explain instances during its own tenure when, he alleged, tantriks were allowed to use government helicopters and planes. He further accused the Congress of consistently opposing Sanatana Dharma, citing remarks by leaders such as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK leader MK Stalin and Congress leader Priyank Kharge, who had compared Sanatana to diseases.
Opposition to Sanatana Dharma is deeply ingrained in the Congress, Pandey claimed, as the controversy continued to fuel political sparring in the state.
