The political confrontation in Delhi escalated as Chief Minister Atishi renewed her accusations against Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena over alleged plans to demolish religious structures, including temples and Buddhist places of worship, in the capital. Atishi presented what she claimed to be "documentary evidence" to substantiate her allegations, citing minutes from a Religious Committee meeting held on November 22. She argued that these documents directly contradicted the Lt Governor’s earlier denials of any demolition plans.
Atishi accused the central BJP government of orchestrating these demolitions through agencies such as the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Delhi Police, with instructions allegedly conveyed via the Lt Governor. She identified specific temples in Patel Nagar, Dilshad Garden, and Seemapuri as being on the purported demolition list and criticized the BJP's approach as being at odds with her government’s policies, such as the proposal to provide a monthly salary of ₹18,000 to temple priests and gurdwara granthis.
In response, Lt Governor Saxena dismissed the allegations, labeling them as "cheap politics" designed to distract from governance failures by Atishi and her predecessor, Arvind Kejriwal. His office reiterated that there were no orders to demolish temples and accused the AAP government of spreading misinformation. Saxena’s secretariat emphasized that the Lt Governor had instead directed law enforcement agencies to prevent acts of deliberate vandalism for political gains, citing peaceful Christmas celebrations as evidence of the administration's vigilance.
Atishi countered these claims by challenging the Lt Governor to rescind the alleged demolition directives if no such plans existed. The situation has further strained relations between the AAP-led Delhi government and the Lt Governor, adding to an ongoing pattern of political disputes over administrative control in the capital.
