Why Rahul Gandhi's Shiv bhakti is turning into a farce
Hoardings and posters addressing Congress chief Rahul Gandhi as "Shiv bhakt" and a rousing welcome from a group of Kanwariyas with a chant of "bum bum bhole". This is how he was welcomed in his Parliamentary constituency Amethi when he returned from the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.
The Congress chief also greeted them and offered prayers at a Lord Shiva portrait. Mr Gandhi was seen posing with chandan on his head while he was welcomed by a crowd chanting "Shiv bhakt" at multiple places in his constituency.
Preparations were already made last week to deck the Congress chief's constituency to propagate his inclination towards Lord Shiva.
During the Kailash Mansarovar yatra, Rahul had tweeted Sanskrit shlokas and the Upanishads to rebut the allegations made by BJP leaders over his pilgrimage tour.
He had also tweeted a post which said that a "man goes to Kailash when it calls him." Gandhi's words – about Kailash calling a person – were a throwback to something Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said in 2014 during the election campaign then.
The party which has always pitched for a secular approach is now making all efforts to prove that Rahul is a "Shiv bhakt". Starting from the Congress chief tweeting pictures of Mansarovar lake to other party leaders posting his pictures with pilgrims, the Congress has been prompt to respond to each and every attack of the BJP.
A Lucknow-based Hindu priest Acharya Mohit Shukla said, "We cannot predict what brews in a politicians mind but the sudden ''soft Hindutva'' approach of the Congress party raises suspicion. Earlier, the party used to talk only about secularism — but now Rahul's spree of temple visits and posing with chandan on his head leaves many unanswered questions."
Speaking to DailyO, Acharya Pramod Krishnam said, "Since freedom, our political parties have focused on religion-based politics to consolidate their votes. While other political parties emphasised secularism, it was only the BJP which projected a strong Hindutva image by batting for the Ram Mandir, cow protection and cleaning of river Ganga. After losing the 2014 elections badly, the Congress party has realised that 'Hindutva' is needed to derail BJP from power. As all his temple visits during the Gujarat and Karnataka polls and the recent Kailash Mansarovar Yatra showed, Rahul Gandhi has understood that a soft Hindutva push is mandatory to revive the party. This requires a lot of political courage."
A temple seer in Amethi's Gauriganj, Bhawani Dutt Dixit, however, raised questions on the Kanwariyas welcoming Rahul Gandhi on his two-day visit.
"Rahul Gandhi should realise that the Kanwar Yatra takes places during the "Sawan" month. The way Kanwariyas were called to welcome him at his Lok Sabha constituency when the month of sawan is over clearly shows his lack of knowledge about the Hindu faith. We have not seen him visiting temples in Amethi before — this shows that his soft Hindutva image is just a political gimmick," Dixit said.
Starting from his Hindu tilt while visiting the Kedarnath Temple in Uttarakhand ahead of the Gujarat elections in 2017 to the recently concluded Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and a welcome by Kanwariyas in Amethi ahead of 2019 polls, many believe that Rahul's "Shiv bhakti" message is turning into a farce and it's just being done for electoral gains. It is also clear that Mr Gandhi – if not directly – is somehow using Hindutva as an important game plan to counter the BJP in the upcoming polls.
The Congress chief has also apparently realised that through Hindutva, the BJP was able to outflank his party in the 2014 elections and the victory juggernaut continued in other state elections. He has finally understood that to strengthen the organisation, a soft Hindutva approach is needed and it's required to convert the BJP's strength into their weakness ahead of 2019 polls.
However, with a new makeover, it has now become equally important and challenging for Mr Gandhi to create a balance, so that minorities who largely support Congress are not turned off by his new "Shiv Bhakt" avatar.
Also read: Why Rahul Gandhi’s temple run is not ‘soft-Hindutva’