Ghosts haunt Rajasthan lawmakers

Jaipur: Those who made law against superstitions are afraid of evil spirits.  The lawmakers in Rajasthan believe that the state Assembly building is haunted by “ghosts” and want to perform a ‘yajna’ to warn them off.  The reason for this absurd behaviour being that ever since the Assembly shifted to this new building in 2001, not a single day all 200 MLAs sat together in the house. Those who raised demand for ‘havan’ to ward off evil spirits are BJP MLAs.   The debate was triggered following death of two ruling party MLAs. Nathdwara MLA Kalyan Singh Chauhan died this week while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Udaipur, while BJP MLA from Mandalgarh Kirti Kumari died due to swine flu in August last year. 

What formed the basis of the MLAs’ fear is that the Assembly was built on a land that was earlier a cremation ground and even now the Assembly building is adjacent to a cremation ground.  BJP legislator from Nagaur Habibur Rehman raised the matter asking Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to conduct a pooja in the Assembly to “get rid” of this “ominous thing”. “It was a cremation place where dead used to be buried, therefore, the place is a haunted. Why else would 200 MLAs never sat together in this House even once,” he told media. Chief whip Kalulal Gurjar allegedly seconded this thought. “It is possible that children were cremated here and their soul may not be at peace. We have asked the CM for havan,” he said. 

On the other hand Congress legislators Govind Singh Dotasara and Dheeraj Gurjar accused the chief whip of spreading superstition.  Meanwhile, renowned industrialist and former general secretary of Federation of Rajasthan Trade and Industry claimed that a part of the Assembly was situated on  land that belongs to his family for which compensation has not paid for last 53 years and the matter is pending in the court. He denied that there were evil spirits in the Assembly. Staffers said that when the construction began rituals were performed.   The matter has always been talked whenever something happens with an MLA in the Assembly. Once a senior leader was locked inside his room mysteriously and at that time too ‘ghosts’ were made suspects.