CM Shinde visits Ayodhya, holds forth on Hindutva with BJP

Mumbai: Maharashtra’s Shiv Sena-BJP put up a show of strength in Ayodhya on Sunday ahead of the local body and general polls and the imminent Supreme Court judgement on the legitimacy of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s government. The two parties, which were supported by the Yogi government in Uttar Pradesh during the visit, vowed to bring in saffron rule again in Maharashtra after the general elections next year.

Shinde, who was on his maiden visit after becoming chief minister, was accompanied by deputy chief minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis. Along with thousands of party workers, the duo attended the maha aarti and paid obeisance at the Ram temple and Hanumangrahi temple. Later, they visited the spot of the under-construction mandir, met seers and saints at Laxman Kila and performed an aarti on the banks of the Sarayu river with several state leaders.

Shinde supporters were seen carrying saffron flags with the original Sena’s election symbol, the bow and arrow, which was recently allotted to the Shinde faction by the Election Commission. They had reached the temple town in Uttar Pradesh in special trains a day before Shinde’s visit to the temple.

The Maharashtra chief minister, who arrived in Lucknow on Saturday evening, landed at Ayodhya’s Ram Katha Park on Sunday morning. He expressed his gratitude to Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, whom he met in the evening in Lucknow, and also announced the construction of the Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Bhavan in Ayodhya with the help of the UP government.

Shinde had visited Ayodhya as the lieutenant of Uddhav Thackeray, the then chief minister and head of the undivided Shiv Sena, in March 2020 and before that in November 2018. During his first visit as CM, he held forth on Ayodhya being the “symbol of Hindutva and the pride of millions of Hindus”. With uncertainty looming over the Shinde-Fadnavis government on account of the SC judgment on the Shiv Sena split nearing, the Hindutva agenda was being aired vociferously, said political observers.

The Ayodhya visit is also seen as Shinde’s attempt to establish his claim that he broke away from the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray because of Hindutva. During his visit, he took a dig at Thackeray, saying he had digressed from the Hindutva agenda and like-minded parties due to his “greed for power”. “Prabhu Ramchandra went into a 14-year exile to keep his promise given to his father, but some people go against the ideology of their father. They joined hands with the people whom Balasaheb (Thackeray) hated all his life,” he said.

Shinde also slammed the Congress and Rahul Gandhi, saying that a few parties had an allergy to Hindutva. “They have been defaming our religion and Hindu ideologues like Veer Savarkar by spreading wrong information about them,” he said. “They have created confusion about the Hindu religion. They know that unless they do so, their political game will be over. The people of the country have already taught them a lesson by decimating them from 400 (members in Lok Sabha) to 40.”

Shinde said the Ayodhya visit would impart a new energy to the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP alliance to unfurl their saffron party flag in the state in 2024. “The Opposition used to taunt us over the delay in the construction of the temple by saying “Mandir wahi banayenge par tareekh nahi batayenge (The temple will be built there but no deadline will be given)”. Today the mandir is under construction and the date too has been announced under the great leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said.

Opposition parties in Maharashtra took a dig at the chief minister for his high-voltage Ayodhya tour. NCP chief Sharad Pawar said that the state government had deviated from its priorities. “When farmers are suffering from huge crop losses due to unseasonal downpours and hailstorms, the state’s leaders are busy visiting Ayodhya,” he said. “All this is just an attempt to divert attention.”

Reacting to the criticism, Shinde said that the “entire system” was taking care of the farmers who had suffered losses. “The agriculture minister is on it, and all the officials, including the chief secretary and collectors have been asked to do an immediate spot assessment of the losses,” he said.” Added Fadnavis, “It is the job of the Opposition to slam the government. Mahatma Gandhiji would advocate the doctrine of Ram Rajya (Lord Rama’s rule), and to bring in Ram Rajya in the state, the blessings of Lord Rama are indispensable.”

Political analyst Pratap Asbe said the ruling parties were pushing their Hindutva agenda in the hope that it would help them politically. “It also helps in deviating from the real issues faced by people,” he said. “Unfortunately, the Opposition has failed in highlighting the real issues, giving the ruling parties ample leeway to air their religion-based agenda ahead of the polls.”