Sara Ali Khan’s visit to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi recently saw her at the centre of a controversy with a religious outfit and Deoband clerics calling her act sacrilegious. Sara accompanied her mother to the Dashashwamedh ghat where she offered sparsh darshan (touch and worship) to the presiding deity in the temple. Sara Ali Khan was in Varanasi for a film shooting.
The Kendriya Brahmin Mahasabha cited a diktat affixed at the temple entrance to condemn her visit. The diktat reads: ‘Those not belonging to Hindu religion are requested not to enter.’ Mahasabha general secretary Dinesh Tiwari said that the temple authorities had failed to maintain the sanatan tradition of the temple. Deoband clerics were also upset. The Islamic seminary said that Sara’s action was un-Islamic and that she should seek forgiveness from Allah.
Years ago, pop singer and model Parvati Khan had surreptitiously visited the temple, stirring a hornet’s nest then.