A month-long 700-km padyatra or foot march organised by right-wing groups has raised the political temperature in Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh that goes into elections later this year.
The organisers of the ‘Hindu Swabhiman Jagran Sant Padyatra’, under which saints and seers will cover a distance of about 700 km between them, have outlined “appealing for a Hindu Rashtra constitutionally”, and raising awareness against “religious conversions” and “love jihad” as some of their objectives.
The ruling Congress, which is trying to blend religious symbolism and strong sub-national cultural identity in its messaging, feels that by raising issues that were straight out of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) playbook, the organisers of the padyatra were helping the BJP polarise voters ahead of polls.
The participants of the padyatra, organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Sant Samiti with support from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), will walk from prominent religious places located in four different corners of the State, and the march will culminate in Raipur on March 19.
On Saturday, when the padyatra was kicked off from Dantewada, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said the BJP was trying to weaponise religion as all its other weapons had become ineffective in Chhattisgarh. He also questioned the logic of raising the issue of a Hindu Rashtra in the State.
“I want to tell the VHP that if it wants India to be a Hindu Rashtra, the demand should be made to the Centre, where the BJP is in power. They should stage a dharna in Delhi instead of Chhattisgarh. There is no need for them to do this nautanki (drama) here,” Mr. Baghel said.
Alleging that the yatra was being taken out to “save the BJP’s political relevance” in the State, Chhattisgarh Congress spokesperson Sushil Anand Shukla said that it was being organised by the VHP under the direction of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).
The organisers, however, refute these allegations.
“Anybody who wants to join the padyatra is welcome. If the Chief Minister is looking at it from a political lens, we cannot do anything about it. We want everyone from the Hindu society to take part in the yatra. We are even visiting Congress workers with invitation to walk alongside us,” the VHP’s Chhattisgarh unit working president Chandrashekar Verma said.
On the yatra objectives, he said that it was to “unite Hindus” and “check the influence of Christian priests in remote areas”.
The BJP refrained from officially commenting on the issue. A party spokesperson, however, denied that the BJP had anything to do with the padyatra.
