Inaugurating the Rs 900 crore Kashi Vishwanath Corridor in Varanasi on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitched the project as another attempt by the BJP government to restore the country’s lost glory while asserting that it is not just a building but a symbol of India’s heritage and spiritual soul.
The BJP governments at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh have been constantly making efforts to renovate temples and other places of religious importance.
Be it the Ram Temple in Ayodhya or Kashi Vishwanath Dham in Varanasi, the issues have had the Hindutva agenda in its core.
While the BJP leaders have been boasting that they have forced the opposition to talk about Hindus and Hindutva, the opposition has been claiming that the BJP doesn’t have a copyright on issues concerning the majority.
The construction and renovation of temples have forced the opposition to play on a bit 'unfamiliar' Hindutva pitch ahead of assembly elections in five states, including Uttar Pradesh.
So, while former Congress president Rahul Gandhi has reignited the Hindu versus Hindutva debate, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav tweeted on the eve of KV Dham’s inauguration that the money for the work was actually sanctioned by his government.
The BSP’s approach has also undergone a paradigm shift as its number two leader, party general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra, has been invoking Hindu deities.
According to political analysts, it could be as tough for the opposition parties to compete with the BJP on Hindutva as it is for a cricket team to play on a foreign soil.
They said there was a time when opposition parties either remained silent on issues like Ram Temple construction or dubbed the BJP as a communal party for raking up contentious issues. Now, in the face of saffron surge, opposition leaders are trying to prove themselves a better Hindu, they added.
"The opposition has been lacking the conviction with which issues close to majority population should be taken up. Wearing janeu (sacred thread) or running from one temple to another will not suffice to take on the BJP which has been aggressively pursuing the Hindutva agenda," a political observer said.
A BJP leader, on condition of anonymity, said: "Trouble began for the opposition parties when they remained silent on the narratives of apologetic Hindus for the past over two decades. The BJP, however, chose to take this as an opportunity and became the voice of the majority."
"Be it the Ram Temple issue, Kashmir problem or atrocities on majority population, BJP was seen standing solidly with the Hindus which was not the case with the opposition," he said.
In a similar vein, the PM in his Monday’s address, said: “Jis heen bhavna se Bharat ko bhar diya gaya tha, usse aaj woh bahar nikal raha hai (The country is coming out of the inferiority complex that had crept in).”
“Yeh ek bhavya mandir bhar nahin hai, ye prateek hai hamare Bharat ki sanatani sanskriti ka, ye prateek hai hamari aadhyatmik atma ka, ye prateek hai Bharat ki pracheenta ka (This is not just a huge building, it is a symbol of India’s culture, spirituality, pristine glory),” he said.
Invoking Hindutva, the PM said, “Yahan agar Aurangzeb aata hai toh Shivaji bhi uth khade hote hain, agar koi Salaar Masud aata hai toh Raja Suheldev jaise veer yodha use hamari ekta ki taaqat ka ehsaas kara dete hain.”
AICC secretary Rajesh Tiwari, who is considered close to Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, said there was no compulsion for the Congress to adopt Hindutva agenda.
"Congress leaders are trying to expose BJP’s false Hindutva. They have never hidden their own religion and have also respected the faith of others. BJP only uses religion for politics. Even in Kashi, several temples were demolished in the name of beautification," Tiwari said, adding that had it been done by any other government they would have been the first to oppose it.
"Congress too had advocated construction of Ram Temple but not at the cost of the demolition of the mosque," he said.
(With inputs from agencies)