A controversy has broken out in Bihar’s Madhubani district after priests of the Kapileshwar Nath Mahadev temple cleaned the shrine soon after Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founder Prashant Kishor and his party’s Muslim candidate, Parvez Alam, offered prayers there.
The incident took place on Tuesday evening when Kishor and Alam visited the temple’s garbh grih (sanctum sanctorum) and prayed to Lord Shiva and other deities before continuing their campaign in the Benipatti assembly constituency.
Soon after their departure, the temple priests reportedly performed a ritual cleansing using panchgavya—a mixture of milk, curd, ghee, cow urine, and cow dung—along with Gangajal.
Shrawan Kumar, one of the priests, said that he had been informed earlier in the day that Prashant Kishor would visit the temple to offer prayers. “I gave my consent and prepared all the materials for the puja. But he didn’t arrive until around 7:30 pm. As per our tradition, the temple closes for visitors at 8 pm. Later, Prashant Kishor and his party’s candidate came and offered prayers inside the sanctum,” he said.
Kumar added that he later realised Kishor had been accompanied by a Muslim candidate. “We could not recognise him at first because he was dressed in traditional Mithila attire,” the priest said.
Some local residents reportedly objected to a Muslim entering the temple’s inner sanctum, which they said goes against temple customs. The temple authorities have not issued any formal statement yet, while the Jan Suraaj Party has not responded to the controversy so far.
