'Vastu dosh in assembly building causing untimely death of leaders': BJP's Gopal Bhargava

BJP leader from Madhya Pradesh Gopal Bhargava came out with a bizarre claim saying that the Madhya Pradesh Assembly was struck by 'Vastu Dosh'. The leader of opposition stated that the problem of 'Vastu' in the building was causing the untimely deaths of state legislators.

Bhargava also suggested that a pandit from Varanasi should be called specially to perform prayers in the assembly building. "Ever since the new Legislative Assembly has been formed, our MLA colleagues have been dying untimely. MLAs are leaving us sometimes due to accident or illness," he said while paying tributes to deceased leaders during a special session of state Assembly on Thursday. 

Read: MP Assembly pays tributes to Swaraj, Jaitley and Seshan

Death of 32 sitting MLAs 

What is interesting is that ever since the new Madhya Pradesh Assembly was built in 1996, one after another 32 MLAs have passed away with many being sitting MLAs in power. Back in 2016, the death of the leader of opposition Satyadev Katare had prompted similar rumors with incumbent MLAs blaming “evil effects” of the building stating that there was Vastu Dosh in the assembly and the way it was constructed.

Now, Gopal Bhargava has reignited this discussion. He stated that legislators might be getting affected with illness due to immense workload however there was no harm in performing the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra if lives could be saved.

Read: PIL in Madhya Pradesh HC seeks implementation of CAA in state

"In the last 15-16 years, around 32 MLAs have died. We should think about it. We don't know about the reason. Vastu was earlier a traditional system but now it has been acknowledged as a scientific discipline in the world. There is no harm in this. A pandit should be called from Varanasi to perform the ritual of Maha Mrityunjaya in Madhya Pradesh Assembly," he said. 

In recent years, leaders from Madhya Pradesh like Babulal Gaur and Kailash Joshi, former Union ministers Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Ram Jethmalani, and S Jaipal Reddy among others passed away due to sudden illness.

Back in 2016, six MLAs have died during the term of the state assembly. This included Satyadev Katare who died from cancer,  BJP MLA from Nepanagar constituency Rajendra Dadu who died in a road accident in Sehore along with other MLAs like Tukujirao Puar, Prabhat Pande, Rajesh Yadav, and Sajjan Singh Uike.

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