Akhilesh Yadav Condemns Order Directing Cops To Wear Priests' Attire At Kashi Vishwanath, Demands Action

Varanasi Police Commissioner Mohit Agarwal ordered the male and female policemen deployed in the temple to wear priests attire.

Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday condemned the order which directed the cops deployed at the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi to dress up in the attire of priests and demanded the suspension of the police official who passed the order. On the orders of the Varanasi Police Commissioner Mohit Agarwal, the male and female policemen have been deployed in the temple in priests' attire.

Questioning and condemning the order, Akhilesh Yadav in a post on X stated: "According to which 'police manual' is it correct for policemen to be dressed as priests? Those who give such orders should be suspended. If tomorrow any 'thug' (fraudster) takes advantage of this and loots the innocent public, then what will the UP government and administration answer? Condemnable!."

Yadav also posted a 35-second video of a news report on his handle which showed the policemen dressed in priests' attire.

He also posted a 35-second video of a news report on his handle.

While the male policemen can be seen wearing dhoti-kurta, the female policemen are seen wearing salwar kurta in the video.

Earlier Commissioner Agarwal had told the reporters that devotees who come from distant places to have obeisance have regard for the priests and that they often got hurt on being pushed forward by the policemen.

"The duty in temple is different from other place as police have to manage different type of crowd here. The crowd here is not for creating law and order problem. The police is here to ensure easy darshan to people and help and guide them," Agarwal stated.

"The devotees get hurt if being pushed by policemen, if same thing is done by priests they take it in a positive way. Following no touch policy, policemen are being deployed in priests attire," he added.