CM Shinde gears up to mobilise his saffron support base through party’s spiritual yatra

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is launching the 'Bhakti-Shakti Samvad Yatra' to connect with religious groups and strengthen his party's support base. The yatra will visit major temples and spiritual sects across the state, and will be led by the 'Dharmveer Adhyatmik Sena' wing of Shinde's Shiv Sena party. The yatra will last until February 28 and will be monitored by MP Shrikant Shinde. This initiative aims to establish a direct link between the CM and religious-spiritual establishments in Maharashtra.

Mumbai: In a bid to strengthen his political base across the state, chief minister Eknath Shinde is gearing up to mobilise a saffron support base through the spiritual cell of his party Shiv Sena. ‘Dharmveer Adhyatmik Sena’, a wing of the Shinde faction, which looks after spiritual and religious matters is going to launch ‘Bhakti-Shakti Samvad Yatra’ on December 25 from Pandharpur which aims at connecting with all sects spread across 36 districts of Maharashtra.

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According to political observers, even after Shinde has been in power for over one and half years, he has not succeeded in building his party’s organisational base across the state, despite having the support of more than 40 MLAs and 13 MPs. Shinde faction is mostly dependent on BJP’s vote bank. To overcome this limitation, Shinde has chalked out a plan to establish a direct link with all major groups and communities connected with temples and math (places of spiritual-religious sects) which could work as Shinde’s own saffron support system. MP Shrikant Shinde, who is the son of CM Shinde, will monitor the yatra and will ensure local support during the yatra period through Yuwa Sena and women workers along with local party officials and MPs, MLAs.

The yatra, which will go on till February 28, will be led by Akshay Maharaj Bhosale, chief of ‘Dharmveer Adhyatmik Sena’ and will be accompanied by 120 members of the core committee of this spiritual cell. This yatra will visit all major temples across the districts and tehsils of the state and also visit places of spiritual sects like Swami Samarth of Akkalkot in Solapur, Gajanan Maharaj of Shegaon in Akola etc. This yatra will be region-wise and in the first phase travel in western Maharashtra and northern Maharashtra from December 25 to January 14. Later, the yatra will enter Marathwada and then into the Vidarbha region. In the last phase, the yatra will visit the districts in Kokan and will conclude in Mumbai. During the yatra, the representatives of Adhyatmik Sena will hold the meeting with trustees-management committee members of all major temples-sects. To avoid any internal or external political dispute no political leader from the party will attend these meetings.

“The yatra will start at 6am with participation in the first aarti of the temple and will end by 10 pm with Kirtan at another place. There will be meetings with people connected to the temples, sects and social groups of that village. We will live in temple premises and will eat there only. Though this is a non-political initiative there will of course be political effects in future as there will be the connection of Dharmasastra and Rajsatta.” said Akshay Maharaj Bhosale. He also added that during the yatra Adhytmik Sena will not just visit Hindu temples but will also visit the places of worship from other communities like Jain, Sikh etc.

Sheetal Mhatre, spokesperson of Shinde-led Shiv Sena said that this yatra will fill the gap of connection between the party and various religious-spiritual groups in Maharashtra. “There were thousands of temples and hundreds of sects in Maharashtra. Crores of people were connected to these groups. and these establishments have their own problems. Through this yatra, Adhyatmik Sena will coordinate to solve the problems of these religious-spiritual establishments. This will create a direct connection between the CM Shinde and the party with these groups and it will help to strengthen the party organisation too.” said Sheetal Mhatre.