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Vrindavan, December, 31st 2014: The Lord went on strike, while the devotees queued in waiting to have His darshan on Wednesday evening. Thakur Shri Radha Gokulananda Temple, one of the ‘Saptadevalayas’ kept the devotees waiting for darshan for two hours in a bid to protest the amalgamation of Mathura and Vrindavan. This was the second time after the Meera Bai Temple, when any temple has protested against the merger proposal by keeping the temple doors closed. According to Acharya Shrivatsa Goswami, the sevait of the temple, “People come to Vrindavan to find Divine Shelter in the temples. The merger of the civic bodies of Vrindavan and Mathura is a threat for the temple town of Vrindavan as well as the temples. The very essence of the pilgrimage town of Vrindavan will be lost with the merger. “The sevaits of the temples, Acharyas, saints, brajwasis all are disappointed with this decision of the government. Therefore we decided to close the temple for two hours as a symbolic protest”, Goswami ji added. Dr. Chandra Prakash Sharma said, “The Lord can’t be happy if His sevaits are disappointed. The temple town of Vrindavan will be infiltrated with vulgarity, non-vegetarianism, intoxication and everything which should be forbidden in a religious place.” Echoed the voice of Dr. Sharma, Shri Yogendra Brajwasi from the Tirth Purohit Panda Sabha said, “Instead of taking measures to declare it a ‘Tirtha Sthali’ the government is set to destroy the culture of Vrindavan. We shall not let it happen at any cost.” Tamal Krishna Brahmachari, the Mahant of the Imli Tala shrine said, “The bigger conspiracy can clearly be seen. The Municipal Corporation will establish guidelines for whole of its periphery. Whatever it decides it will apply to whole of the city. The smaller temples will be grabbed by the mafias and then transformed into high rise buildings. The temples of Vrindavan will be overshadowed by the high rise buildings.” It was decided that a group of four people of the Braj-Vrindavan Heritage Alliance will visit all the temples and convince them to join the group. The BVHA is in constant touch with all the groups including the Brahmin Sabha, Vyapar Mandal and the other groups to decide the future course of action. Dr. Laxmi Gautam, Devendra Dixit, Dhananjay Gautam, Pradyumna Pratap Maharaj, Ram Narayan Brajwasi, Go-Sevak Alok ji, Shrivas Pujari, Madhumangal Shukla, Bharat Lal Sharma, Navneet Agrawal and many others were present during the ‘temple closure protest’. On the other hands another group of saints staged ‘dharna’ at the gate of the Vrindavan Municipality. The growing rage among the residents may disrupt the peace of the town, if the government sticks to its decision for the amalgamation.