BJP to take out Ram rath yatra ahead of bypolls in Madhya Pradesh

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers will take out ‘Ramshila poojan’ rath yatra in 27 assembly constituencies in Madhya Pradesh where bypolls are expected to be held next month, party leaders said.

The first such rath yatra will be taken out in Surakhi state assembly constituency of Sagar district in Bundelkhand on Wednesday and will be led by revenue and transport minister Govind Singh Rajput.

Rajput represented Surakhi assembly constituency till March this year before he along with 21 Congress MLAs resigned from the state assembly to join the BJP. The rath yatra will be held over 10 days.

“Some religious people were of the view that we should send Ramshila (bricks) to Ayodhya for construction of the temple. Ramshilas will be taken in five directions in the constituencies for its worship from September 2 to September 11 after which the same would be carried to Ayodhya,” he said.

Rajput who was inducted in the state cabinet on April 21 without being a member of the state assembly is likely to contest the bypoll from the constituency on a BJP ticket to retain his position as a minister, party leaders said.

The bypoll will decide the fate of the BJP government as well. The party which replaced Congress in power on March 23 this year has 107 MLAs in the 230-member state assembly, nine short of the majority mark. The Congress has 89 MLAs and there are 2 BSP, 1 SP and 4 independent MLAs in the assembly. BJP needs to win 9 seats out of 27 to retain the power.

According to convener of the Rathyatra Anil Tiwari there are five vehicles which will be used as ‘Rath’ (chariot) which will carry bricks made of eight metals including silver. “We have got permission from the district administration for the Ramshila poojan rathyatra. The police and our party workers will ensure compliance of all the safety norms against Covid-19”, he added.

But BJP’s former member of Parliament Alok Sanjar who was present in Sagar when the announcement was made denied that the exercise was connected with the bypolls.

“The programme has nothing to do with the bypolls and it has been organised in view of sentiments of people who want to contribute to construction of the Ram temple which could be possible with a firm stand on the issue and able leadership of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

State BJP media in charge Lokendra Parashar said, “The party has not taken any formal decision to take out any rath yatra for worship of ‘Ramshila’. However, if any party worker or leader in any district wishes to hold any programme for such a worship given his faith in Lord Ram he is free do so.”