NCP plans wari to counter BJP’s politics on Hindutva

NCP plans to hold 'Wari Aplya Dari', a procession to promote equality through teachings of Sant Tukaram Maharaj. The move is aimed to educate people on the true meaning of Hindu religion - tolerance and inclusiveness and counter the hatred being spread by right-wing outfits. The procession will start at Nashik?s Dindori on June 19 and will be taken out once a month, gradually every week.

Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is planning to hold a statewide procession, ‘Wari Aplya Dari’, to promote equality among people through teachings of Sant Tukaram Maharaj, a 17th-century saint from Dehu near Pune.

Pune, India - June 24, 2022: Devotees walk through the hills as Sant Dnyaneshwar Maharaj Palkhi passes through Dive Ghat from Pune to Pandharpur, in Pune, India, on Friday, June 24, 2022. (HT Photo) (Hindustan Times)

The move, party insiders said, is aimed to douse the communal fires being stoked by right-wing outfits and to educate people on the true meaning of Hindu religion — tolerance and inclusiveness.

The party has put its two leaders - Narhari Zirwal and Amol Mitkari - in charge of the procession starting at Nashik’s Dindori on June 19.

“Hindu religion is not how the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) presents it. Its real meaning is to take everyone along. We will inform people about its political misuse during our visit to villages,” Mitkari said.

Participants would recite ‘gathas’ (saga) of Tukaram Maharaj and ‘abhangas’ (devotional verses) written by him, he said. “This is the way we will try to counter the venom of hatred being spread by the BJP.”

On the day of flag-off, the NCP plans to distribute 1,000 gathas and ‘Paikichya Abhanga’, a collection of ‘abhangas’, which were meant to encourage people to join the army of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

Mitkari said their message for the people would be that a Hindu could not be a fanatic. “Those who are fanatics are not Hindus and those who claim themselves to be Hindus cannot be fanatics.”

To begin with, the procession will be taken out once a month and gradually every week. The party is setting up a committee comprising individuals from the Warkari sect in every district.

The sect is a religious movement traced to the Bhakti tradition and follows Sant Tukaram. Every year, lakhs of devotees of Warkari sect go on a pilgrimage by foot to Vithoba temple in Pandharpur from Alandi (place of worship and samadhi of Sant Dyaneshwar) and Dehu (place of worship of Sant Tukaram) ahead of Ashadi Ekadashi.