'Evil spirits' haunting Rajasthan Secretariat? MLAs want 'havan'

Jaipur: Lawmakers in Rajasthan these days have a different reason to worry – ghosts or evil spirits.

According to reports, a group of lawmakers in Rajasthan is extremely worried that the Secretariat building has "negative energies and evil souls" and have urged the state government to conduct a  'havan' and other religious ceremonies to get rid of them.

Since the death of two Rajasthan lawmakers within past six months, the MLAs are worried that 'evil spirits' are haunting the Rajasthan Secretariat and a 'havan puja' is required to get rid of them.

Nagaur BJP MLA Habibur Rehman had even suggested the Rajasthan Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje, to conduct a 'havan' in the building, which will help in purifying the surroundings.

Rehman and some other MLAs believe that the land on which the Secretariat stands had once accommodated a burial ground and crematorium and hence the evil souls are dominating the place.

Confirming fear among the lawmakers, Kalulal Gurjar, the chief whip, also said that the untimely deaths of two BJP MLAs one after the other has further le3d them to believe that the secretariat building is indeed haunted.

Nathdwara MLA Kalyan Singh had passed away on Wednesday while Kirti Kumari from Mandalgarh passed away last year after suffering from swine flu.

Gurjar too has requested the Chief Minister for performing 'yagna' and religious ceremony in the building to ensure that it gets rid of evil spirits.

However, some completely disagree with the MLAs and say that it would only spread superstition.

"I have never felt the presence of an evil spirit in the assembly. Maybe the people who are saying this are weak-hearted. Such things will only spread superstition among people," Congress leader Dheeraj Gurjar said.

BJP MLA B Singh also said that the view of some MLAs that there is a presence of ghosts in assembly is baseless.

"It's belief of some senior MLAs that Rajasthan assembly was built on cremation ground so all 200 MLAs are never present here at one time. The view that there is a presence of ghosts is baseless. Doing a 'yagna' to mend this is not needed," he said.

However, it is still unclear whether the Rajasthan government is seriously looking into this issue and mulling to perform a 'havan' to purify the Secretariat building.

Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and the State Assembly Speaker are likely to take a call in this regard.

Constructed in 2001, the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly is spread across a campus measuring 16.96 acres in Jyoti Nagar and is one of the modern legislature buildings in the country.

The Lal Kothi cremation ground is located adjacent to the Assembly and also accommodates a crematorium in its vicinity. 

(With IANS inputs)