E-Paper
Ravidas Jayanti: Yogi, Channi, Rahul and Priyanka pray at temple in Varanasi
With several top politicians paying obeisance at the Sant Ravidas temple in Varanasi on the occasion of his birth anniversary on Wednesday, poll politics got a devotional touch.
Uttar Pradesh and Punjab chief ministers Yogi Adityanath and Charanjeet Singh Channi, Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi and her brother Rahul Gandhi and lakhs of devotees offered prayers at Sant Shiromani Guru Ravidas Janma Asthan Mandir (temple), in Seer Goverdhan area of Varanasi, on Sant Ravidas’s 645th birth anniversary on Wednesday.
All of them also extended greetings to the people on Ravidas jayanti.
Channi reached the temple at around 5 am and offered prayers. Thereafter, he met Sant Niranjnan Das and took his blessings. He also heard ‘armitvani’, containing hymns of Guru Ravidas.
Niranjan Das is chairman of Shri Guru Ravidas Janma Sthan Public Charitable Trust, Seer Goverdhanpur, Varanasi.
He is also ‘gaddi nashin’ (spiritual leader) of Dera Sach Khand, which is a religious and social organization (dera) based in Ballan village near Jalandhar, Punjab. It was founded by devotees of Ravidas. There are lakhs of followers of Ravidas in Punjab and they had formed a new religion called Ravidassia.
“On Ravidas jayanti, I paid obeisance at Sant Shiromani Guru Ravidas Janam Asthan mandir in Varanasi. Let us imbibe his teachings of love, compassion, mutual tolerance and oneness of mankind,” Channi later tweeted.
Before visiting the Ravidas temple, Channi visited Kashi Vishwanath temple and offered prayers there.
At around 10 am, Yogi Adityanath offered prayers to Sant Ravidas at the temple and then met Sant Niranjan Das and other sants and followers of Ravidas. He also ate prasad at langar on the temple premises.
In a brief interaction with media persons outside the temple, Yogi said, “Under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the double engine government of BJP is working diligently for the overall development of the holy birthplace of Sant Ravidas. A langar hall has already been constructed. A park is under construction. A bronze statue of Sant Ravidas installed in Seer Govardhan is giving the message of social harmony.”
He further said: “The state government is working for beautification and tourism development of Seer Govardhan. It is our good fortune that Seer Govardhan, the birthplace of Sant Ravidas, is located in Kashi.”
Yogi said that connectivity to the area had been improved.
AAP MP Sanjay Singh offered prayers at Ravidas temple at around 11 am.
Congress leaders Priyanka and Rahul offered prayers at the temple at around noon and took blessings of Sant Niranjan Das, who offered them angvastrams (stoles).
Priyanka and Rahul also served ‘prasad’ to the devotees at ‘langar’ in the temple. They also ate ‘prasad’.
“Jai Gurudev, Dhan Gurudev,” tweeted Priyanka after offering prayers.
Rahul later tweeted: “Hearty congratulations on the occasion of birth of Guru Ravidas Ji, who gave the message of unity and brotherhood.”
Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad ‘Ravan’ visited Ravidas temple and offered prayers there at around 3 pm.
Leaders’ temple visit: Experts see bid to woo voters
With several top politicians paying obeisance at the Sant Ravidas temple here on the occasion of his birth anniversary on Wednesday, poll politics got a devotional touch.
Though the politicians didn’t make any direct appeal to the followers of the sant, political analysts said that they aimed to woo dalit voters in Punjab and UP, from Kashi.
Political analyst prof Kaushal Kishore Mishra said the politicians, by offering prayers at Sant Ravidas temple here, tried to woo the dalit voters of Punjab and UP as lakhs of dalits offer prayers to the sant here every year.
The professor said Punjab has over 32% dalit voters and the politicians tried to win support of these voters, as well as dalit voters of Uttar Pradesh.
Patanjali (he goes by one name), a research scholar, said in election season, politicians offer prayers to Sant Ravidas so that they could win the support of his followers.
However, Balmukund Singh and Lovepreet Singh of Jalandhar say they come here only out of devotion and politicians’ presence doesn’t make a difference.
Balmukund further said: “Whoever comes here, comes only out of devotion. At the time of Guru Ravidas Ji, kings used to go to him to take his blessings.”
