BJP leaders split over granting holy city status to Amritsar

A sharp divide has emerged within local leaders over the proposal to declare Amritsar a ‘holy city’. General secretary of the BJP’s Punjab unit Jagmohan Singh Raju’s demand to ban liquor, meat and tobacco in Amritsar as part of the proposal has sparked a pointed response from former BJP leader and former Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla.

Speaking publicly, Chawla questioned the premise of Raju’s campaign by asking, “Is only Amritsar holy? Isn’t the entire country sacred? Will merely banning alcohol make a city holy?” She further raised issues such as the presence of slaughterhouses, shops openly selling halal and jhatka meat, political leaders distributing liquor to secure votes, vulgar musical events, immoral activities behind the facade of spa centres and widespread corruption including tax evasion. “Will these realities not violate the sanctity of a ‘holy city’? Will banning liquor alone suffice,” she asked.

In a strong rebuttal, Jagmohan Singh Raju defended his stand by drawing parallels with cities like Ayodhya, Varanasi, Haridwar and Ujjain where state governments have already imposed restrictions on liquor and meat to preserve religious sanctity. “Is the prayer room in a house the only holy place or is the whole house sacred,” Raju questioned. “Why do we treat only some rivers as sacred when all water is from the same source? The idea of a holy city must encompass the entire space, not just the religious structures within it,” he said.

Raju cited cultural priority from states like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh, where the governments, respecting public sentiments, declared certain cities as sacred zones and restricted the sale of intoxicants and meat. “Like those places, Amritsar too holds deep spiritual significance, not only for Sikhs, but for all humanity,” he said.

He also alleged that Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann rejected the demand to ban liquor and tobacco in Amritsar due to what he called was an “anti-Sikh mindset”.

Amritsar