Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Tuesday said the demand of the management committees of Hindu temples and religious sites in the state to bar the entry of non-Hindus was “in coherence with the Hindu tradition”.

“We will act according to the wishes of the temple committees because they are the primary stakeholders of the religious activities held there, including the Char Dham Yatra and the Haridwar Kumbh. The government is a co-organiser. Obviously, we will do whatever they demand from us based on our traditions,” Dhami told reporters in Dehradun.

The Opposition parties believe the government will make the issue a key poll plank in the run-up to the 2027 Assembly elections.

The demand was first raised by the Ganga Sabha, which organises religious congregations along the Ganga in Haridwar. They have put up banners at several places in the town prohibiting the entry of non-Hindus.

Ganga Sabha president Nitin Gautam said: “We are gearing up to celebrate Kumbh Mela in Haridwar in 2027. Keeping in view the purity and security of the area, we have banned the entry of non-Hindus here and expect the government to deploy security forces to enforce our decision.”

Hemant Dwivedi, chairman of the Sri Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple committee, said: “It was a long-pending demand of the members of the temple management and the people. We have implemented it now and hope that the administration will respect our emotions. We don’t want non-Hindus at our religious sites.”

Gita-in-madrasa plea

An IPS officer in Madhya Pradesh urged students of a madrasa in Bhopal on Republic Day to read the Bhagavad Gita along with the Quran as it would help “enlighten their path”.

Raja Babu Singh, additional director-general of police (training), was addressing students of the madrasa in Sehore district via videoconference.

Additional reporting by PTI