Mumbai, Feb 15, 2023, IANS

Mumbai, Feb 15 (IANS): A row erupted in Maharashtra on Wednesday over an Assam government advertisement claiming that India's 6th Jyotirlinga is located at Kamrup in the Dakini hills in the northeastern state.

The ad, released by the Assam government on Tuesday in various media, bears the photo of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma greeting and inviting people on the occasion of the upcoming Maha Shivratri (February 18) celebrations.

"Welcome to the site of India's Sixth Jyotirlinga," says the huge media ads, which have given the names of all the 12 Jyotirlingas in the country, including now showing the 6th one as 'Bhimshankar (Dakini)', prominently in a red box, beside a Shivling, a Trishul and Damru.

As per Hindu texts, of the 12 such recognised Jyotirlingas all over India, one is in the Bhimashankar hill forests of Pune district in Maharashtra, where lakhs of devotees go for prayers every year.

Taken aback by the 'preposterous' claims, the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) immediately pounced on the Assam government and the ruling Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party regime in Maharashtra.

Firing the first salvo, Congress' General Secretary Sachin Sawant said: "Leave aside industries (in Maharashtra), the BJP wants to snatch away even Lord Shiva from Maharashtra. Now, the BJP Assam government claims that the 6th Jyotirlinga of Bhimashankar is situated in Assam and not in Maharashtra's Pune district. We strongly condemn this highly preposterous claim."

Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule slammed Assam and demanded whether the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has now decided to give away the cultural and spiritual treasures of Maharashtra along with its industries and jobs.

"What the Assam BJP government in Assam is doing is absolutely unacceptable and without any basis," she said, urging Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis to take immediate note of the developments.

Flaying the Assam government, Shiv Sena (UBT)'s national spokesperson Kishore Tiwari said this is just the beginning and the BJP will now take away other important gods and deities of Maharashtra.

"Today, it's the Jyotirlinga which represents Lord Shiva. Tomorrow, they will even stake claim on his son, Lord Ganesha, who is the most revered in Maharashtra, where the annual Ganeshotsav festival took birth 130 years ago," a fuming Tiwari said.

Sule went on to quote Shrimad Adi Shankaracharya's Brihad Ratnakara Stotra that the Bhimashankar Jyotirlinga is the source of River Bhima in the forests of Dakini, hence the Bhimashankar in Pune is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga Temples, none other.

"Who else needs to testify now? However, the BJP-ruled Assam has started promoting the Shivalinga at Parnohi near Guwahati as the 6th Jyotirlingaa. This is very mischievous and false propaganda," Sule said.

Hitting back at Sawant for the criticism, BJP spokesperson Ram Kadam presented a press release of December 2021 of the Centre's Department of Tourism mentioning all the Jyotirlingas and also the Bhimashankar Jyotirlinga.

Calling Sawant a 'misguided emperor' like the Congressmen, the BJP leader said that from the government, everything is clear.

Sawant patiently requested Kadam to first "study the issue and then talk", pointing out that his concern pertained to the Assam government ad of February 14 which mentions that the 6th Jyotirlinga is not in Maharashtra but in Assam.

"Even the name has been changed. Surprisingly, it didn't upset you. Maybe the topic is not understood as usual," said Sawant in a sarcastic swipe at Kadam.

Sule, Tiwari and Sawant have called upon the Shinde-Fadnavis government to declare their stance, unequivocally condemn Assam's BJP government on 'blasphemy' that has hurt the religious sentiments of not only Hindus, but the 12 crore people of Maharashtra and the belief of all Indians.