BJP MLA Mahant Balaknath offers prayers at Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain

Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh) [India], January 15 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Rajasthan's Tijara constituency, Mahant Balaknath, offered prayers at Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain on Monday and also participated in a cleanliness drive in the temple.
The priest and assistant administrator of the Mahakaleshwar temple committee welcomed Mahant Balaknath by presenting him with a shawl on the occasion.
The Mahakaleshwar Temple is a popular Hindu shrine dedicated to the Lord Shiva and is one of the twelve 'Jyotirlingas', the most sacred abode of the deity.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appealed to the people to keep the temples clean in our villages, cities and localities. God resides in cleanliness and a clean environment should also be maintained. Ram Rajya should be established not only in India but in the entire world. Ramrajya means that everyone's mind should be clean and uplift nature for the welfare of mankind," Balaknath said after offering prayers at the temple.
Ahead of the inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the BJP leaders are conducting a cleanliness drive at different locations across the country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off the Swacchata Abhiyan on his recent visit to Maharashtra. On Friday, PM Modi participated in a cleanliness drive at the Kalaram Temple in Nashik, as a part of the Swachhata Abhiyan initiative.
He also encouraged citizens to actively join cleanliness initiatives at temples nationwide in anticipation of the Pran Pratishtha ceremony for the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya scheduled for January 22.
Preparations are in full swing for the grand inauguration of the Ram temple, anticipated to attract dignitaries and individuals from various backgrounds. The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has set noon on January 22 as the moment to install the idol of Ram Lalla in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.
Notably, Balaknath was elected as a Member of Parliament from the Alwar Lok Sabha constituency in 2019. In the last assembly elections in Rajasthan in 2023, the first time MP resigned from the Parliament and contested from the Tijara seat in the Alwar district and won it handsomely.
Balaknath is a disciple of the late Mahant Chand Nath Yogi, former BJP MP of Alwar and Mahant of the Baba Mastnath Math in Haryana's Rohtak. Before he passed away in 2017, Chand Nath declared Balak Nath his successor.
Balaknath, born in a Yadav family in the Alwar district, is also the Chancellor of Baba Mastnath University in Rohtak, Haryana. (ANI)