A group of people in Uttar Pradesh built a temple for ‘Corona Mata (mother)’ before it was demolished by the local administration. The incident took place at Juhi Shukulpur village in Pratapgarh district of the state.
The temple was built to seek divine protection from the virus. However, netizens reacted in horror after news agency ANI shared the visuals of extreme superstition being practiced by Indians even in 2021.
“Villagers collectively decided and set up the temple with belief that praying to the deity would definitely offer respite to people from Coronavirus,” a villager told the news agency.
The news evoked angry reactions from Twitterati;
Now I see how we got to 33 crore gods ????????
Chalo ab –33cr+1
Bolo Corona mata ki Jai ???? pic.twitter.com/2JUy2S5o4G— Ajit Sohi (@ajitsohi) June 12, 2021
People in Pratapgarh District of UP have built a “Corona Mata” Temple to fight Corona
They believe praying to the deity will keep Corona away
False beliefs and illiteracy is the only reason why RSS BJP are able to spread their ideology in Northern India#मनुकपूत_पीते_गोमूत्र pic.twitter.com/eMHyAFXKCl— Kishor Chauhan (@KingKisshor) June 13, 2021
Corona is a NEW GOD in India
‘Corona Mata’ temple comes up under a neem tree at a village in Pratapgarh district, Uttar Pradesh.
Who can save my nation ????⚖️???? pic.twitter.com/E9ugCrKoTh
— S Shreya (@s_shreyatweets) June 12, 2021
A report by news agency PTI said that the temple was built five days ago by Lokesh Kumar Srivastava with the help of donations from local residents and one Radhey Shyam Verma of the village was appointed its priest. However, according to reports, the local administration later demolished the structure saying that this was built on a disputed site.
Sangipur police station SHO Tushardutt Tyagi reportedly said that the temple was built on disputed land and was razed by one of the parties involved in the dispute.