Twinkling prayers at Sankat Mochan in memory of blast victims

Varanasi, Mar 14 (UNI) A week after the Sankat Mochan temple was rocked by a powerful blast, activists of the ruling Samjawadi Party and students of Banaras Hindu University (BHU), offered prayers at the same 16th century temple for the peace of those killed in the mishap.

The SP leaders, led by Uttar Pradesh Cow Commission chairman K P Yadav and former state minister Shatarudhra Prakash, lit up earthen 'diyas' in the temple premises in the memory of those killed in the March seven twin blast.

The party leaders then carried out a peace march from the temple, to Varanasi railway station -- the place of the other blast on March seven -- and burnt a symbolic effigy of terrorism.

The spotlight of the evening again shifted to the Sankat Mochan temple, where a large number of BHU students lightened up 5,100 diyas in the memory of departed souls and prayed before the liberator of trouble Sankat Mochan Hanuman to uproot the menace of terrorism.

The students also prayed inside the temple for the early recovery of those injured in the twin blasts.

At least 17 people were killed and over 100 injured in the twin blast that occured within an interval of 15 minutes.

UNI ARS VD RN1948