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Cong, AAP adopt new tactics to target BJP in Uttarakhand
AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal announced in Dehradun last week that AAP will make Uttarakhand the spiritual capital for the Hindus across the world.
Dehradun: The opposition Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are attempting to capitalise on the priests’ protests against the Uttarakhand government’s takeover of the management of Char Dham shrines and associated temples to target the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government ahead of the state assembly elections early next year.
The state BJP says the statements reflect the parties’ desperation to gain people’s attention for electoral mileage. Experts say people of Uttarakhand, though religious at the level of personal faith, do not primarily vote on the basis of Hindutva talk by the parties.
Congress leader Harish Rawat, who is the head of the party’s election campaign committee, has made it clear in recent statements that he won’t allow the BJP to monopolise the Hindutva agenda.
“Without any political colour, our people here use the name of Shiva, Bhole Nath. Our state is Dev Bhoomi. BJP uses the name of Lord Ram. Here, our people, our party cadre use the name of Shiva and Ganesh ji. We started election campaigning with ‘Jai Bhole Nath’. Our workers will continue to use it in election campaigning, and it has nothing to do with politics,” the former chief minister said.
Rawat said the Congress has decided to start Parivartan yatra in the state from September 3 from Khatima in Kumaon. “If BJP has Lord Ram, we have Bhole Nath, Lord Ganesh, in whose name the Parivartan yatra will be started to get back the pride of the Dev Bhoomi, the land of gods.”
The former CM claimed the BJP has been using Hindutva for political ends as they don’t understand the finer tenets of Sanatan Dharma, which believes in the collective good of all people. “When it comes to agitating priests, we have to be more sensitive regarding what they want. They have been managing shrines for centuries,” he said.
Priests have been agitating against the Char Dham Board for the last two years. Angry with the state government’s vacillating the stand over the issue, they have warned the BJP of withdrawing their backing to the party if a decision on scarping the Char Dham Board is not taken by September 1.
The Congress has not only come out in support of the priests but also decided to raise the issue in the monsoon session of the state assembly, which started on Monday and will continue till August 27. Congress’s Dharchula MLA Harish Dhami intends to move a private bill on the Char Dham Devasthanam Management Board Act in the assembly session.
Pandit Vinod Prasad Shukla, president of Teerath Purohit Samaj Shri Kedarnath, said scores of people from the priest and Brahmin community have already left the BJP.
“We have waited enough. We have been protesting for the last two years and the government is still framing committees in the matter. If they don’t take a decision by September 1, a large number of people from our community will leave BJP,” Shukla said.
In April this year, then chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat announced that the state government will review the formation of Char Dham Devasthanam Board. But when Pushkar Singh Dhami took over the reins of the state, he announced the formation of a high-powered committee that will talk with all stakeholders, following which a decision will be taken on the status of the Char Dham Board.
But the agitating priests are not happy with this.
Santosh Trivedi, a priest from Kedarnath shrine and vice president of Akhil Bharatiya Teerath Purohit Yuva Mahasabha, wrote a letter with his blood earlier this month to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding scrapping of the Char Dham Devasthanam Board and allowing priests to manage the shrines. He said they had never imagined that BJP government will play with the rights of the priests, who have been managing the shrines for centuries.
The AAP, which has announced free power to people in the state, has also signalled a change in its tactics. On August 17, Delhi chief minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal announced in Dehradun that AAP will make Uttarakhand the spiritual capital for the Hindus across the world. AAP, which plans to contest on all the 70 seats in the state assembly, feels that if it has to gain a foothold in state politics, it cannot ignore the Hindutva factor.
State AAP unit president SS Kaler said the BJP has been using Hindutva for political ends, but AAP wants to link Hindutva with strengthening the local economy.
“What Arvind Kejriwal meant by saying that AAP wants to make Uttarakhand the spiritual capital for Hindus across the world is that if we are elected to power, we will develop each shrine and promote it at global level among the Hindus, so that they come here and contribute to strengthening the economy of the people around these pilgrimage sites. By making Uttarakhand the spiritual capital for Hindus at the global level, we are also attracting their contribution in developing the Dev Bhoomi.”
The state BJP said the statements show their desperation to gain attention of the people but expressed confidence that the people will continue to repose faith in the BJP.
“It is strange why Congress or AAP is suddenly reminded of Hindutva, that too when elections are near,” state BJP vice president Devendra Bhasin said.
“Whether it is Congress or AAP, people know their history and what they have done so far. People know whether they are for Hindus or others. This sudden gravitation of both these parties towards Hindutva issues shows their desperation. But people of the state will see through the façade and again repose their faith in BJP. For us Hindutva is not a political ideology but a way of life,” he said.
Political analyst Prof SS Semwal, who teaches political science at Garhwal university, said religion has always been a strong undercurrent in Uttarakhand, the land of gods.
“But that undercurrent is more at the level of personal faith, not that much at the level of politics. I don’t think people of this state will primarily vote based on what these parties think about Hindutva. There may be some sections who may vote on these issues. But overall voters here are more worried about unemployment, migration, poor healthcare and so on. But with the elections nearing, these parties want to cover all corners. So, they are talking about Hindutva themes and attacking BJP on the same,” Semwal said.
