The Madhya Pradesh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will livestream the inauguration of the first phase of the ₹856-crore Mahakaleshwar Temple corridor development project by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to non-resident Indians (NRIs) in over 40 countries on Tuesday.
The project in the holy city of Ujjain, which is expected to significantly boost tourism in the State, is a key part of the party’s “cultural resurgence” plank to increase its support base in the State, country and across the globe ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha poll.
State BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma on Monday said the party’s NRI cell reached out to NRIs in 40 countries, including the U.S., the U.K., UAE, New Zealand and Canada. “We reached out to people from Madhya Pradesh residing in these countries. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and I held a virtual meeting with them and they were excited to join the event. We are planning to extend the list of countries to 50. Apart from virtually attending the event, the NRIs will organise special ceremonies like lighting of lamps to mark the occasion,” Mr. Sharma said.
Over 1,000 giant screens will also be put up across the State to facilitate public viewing of the event as part of the BJP’s efforts to draw more people to the party. Party workers have been exhorted to organise “Diwali-like events” at the booth level to celebrate the event.
Ashish Kumar Pathak, Chief Executive Officer of Ujjain Smart City, said every year about 1.5 crore people visit the temple, which is one of the 12 ‘jyotirlings’ in the country. “This annual figure is expected to double to about 3 crore after the inauguration,” he said.
Contesting claims
The Chief Minister has been working hard to make the project’s launch a grand success like the opening of the Kashi Vishwanath corridor project in 2021, which was widely viewed to have bolstered the party’s political standing. However, the Congress contested Mr. Chouhan’s claims of conceptualising the project at a press conference on Monday.
The Opposition party said the project was proposed and ₹300 crore was allotted for it during Congress leader Kamal Nath’s tenure as Chief Minister (2018-2020). The party shared screenshots of tweets on the project posted by the State Publicity Department in 2019 to corroborate its claims.
