The news this week that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's supporters in Gujarat had built a temple dedicated to him led to many eyebrows being raised, apart of course from the usual hilarity on Twitter.

No one quite paid attention to the small detail in the report that a pre-existing smaller temple had been upgraded to a grand building, where a small photograph of Modi was replaced with a large bust.

That the news followed in the wake of the poll debacle in Delhi perhaps added to the schadenfreude. Cartoonists were quick off the block.

It was, of course, forgotten that stories about similar Modi temples have done the rounds for some time now.

That the news came fresh on the heels of the controversy over a Rs 10 lakh suit, which had pinstripes embroidered with the name Narendra Damodardas Modi repeated over and over again, only added more grist to the mills.


The man who has been criticised for remaining silent on a range of issues, seems to have suddenly decided to respond with a sense of urgency, as  three successive tweets followed on Thursday morning:



But instead of silencing his critics, these tweets led to more questions. On his silence at news of other temples:

And his earlier silence at temples being built specifically by his fans:












And then it turned out that the temple dedicated to Modi had apparently been constructed illegally by a tea stall owner, Shankar Patel, with the help of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member, Ramesh Unghad, to ward off action for encroaching on government land.

The story about how government land ended up as a temple might sound familiar, but it is worth sharing, as reported by the Mumbai Mirror, quoting one of Patel's friends:
"Constant fear of demolition bothered him [Patel]. So, he first put up a picture of Bharat Maata. But that did not solve his problems. Meanwhile, Narendra Modi became the CM of Gujarat. He was a Modi fan since the CM had contested his first election from Gujarat. So, he put up a picture of Modi saheb"

Harassment from local officials reportedly decreased. Soon, along with Aum Paan Centre, Patel opened the Momai Tea Centre. He lived behind these kiosks. As his business began to prosper, he befriended Unghad, a small time property dealer and a primary member of the BJP. Both of them planned to "expand" the temple.

Together, and mostly with financial help from Unghad, they constructed a small temple and began to offer prayers to Modi. Twice a day, Patel performed a Modi puja and chanted Modi hymns. He does not remember when he first started worshipping Modi, but he says that he came up with the temple at least "eight to nine years ago".

But, as the news became national and the prime minister felt compelled to express his disapproval on Twitter, the Rajkot administration finally moved in and razed the structure to the ground.

With the planned inauguration by a Gujarat minister cancelled, the temple razed, and the living deity redeemed, Twitter went back to being itself, with questions and whataboutism on Sonia Mata: