MANALI: ‘Nazrana’ has become an election issue in Himachal Pradesh after the Congress has accused the state’s BJP government of hurting people’s religious sentiments by ending a centuriesold tradition of offering gifts to Kullu Dussehra’s participating deities and honorarium to their musicians.
The state government has also taken a U-turn and assured the deities and the accompanying musicians with their palanquins that they will get their nazrana once the model code of conduct for the elections was no longer in force.
All the deities who join the weeklong festival get an honorarium from the government but, this year, the Dussehra committee broke this tradition because the Covid-19 protocol had disallowed commercial activities and crowding, and so there was no income.
Congress candidate for Mandi parliamentary seat Pratibha Singh on Wednesday visited the Dhalpur Dussehra ground to take blessings of all the camping deities, and said her late husband, Virbhadra Singh, used to pay ‘nazrana’ to all the deities without fail when he was chief minister. She said: "Stopping deities’ nazrana is unfortunate. They are revered by both governments and the public. I seek the blessings of both to win this seat."
The other Congressmen highlighted how priests, kardars, and the followers of the deities had also demanded ‘nazrana’. The BJP, having cautioned the Congress against politcising the issue, broke its silence and said "the nazrana will be paid".
Culture minister Govind Singh Thakur on Wednesday told the media: "The nazrana will be paid once the model code of conduct is off. We are happy to host 281 deities at Kullu Dussehra."
