Salangpur: A delegation of local Sanatan sadhus from Botad and Bhavnagar belt met with the Kothari swami of Salangpur Hanuman mandir which functions under the Vadtal branch of the Swaminarayan sect. The Sanatani Sadhus after the meeting said they have received assurance that controversial murals distorting Hanuman ji will be removed and a decision will be taken by the evening of Monday or in a maximum of two days. Sanatani Sadhus said they were assured that after the removal of the murals, they would never be reinstalled again. The Sadhus said they had received a satisfactory reply from Kothari swami.

The Sadhus of the Sanatani faith were led by Barwala-based Lakshmanji mandir’s mahant. They had organized a foot march today protesting the murals and other tactics of the Swaminarayan faith to show Hindu gods in poor light. However, the march was stopped by local Mamlatdar. The Sadhus later conversed with Kothari swami of Salangpur mandir over a phone call and it was mutually decided that a few Sadhus could come and meet Kothari swami.

The Sadhus had darshan of Salangpur Hanuman and later held a meeting in the presence of police. The meeting went on for half an hour or so during which the Sadhus raised various issues such as offending remarks by Swaminarayan sadhus, and distortion in books published by the Swaminarayan sect. DeshGujarat