New Delhi: On the day his home constituency Varanasi went to polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed jalabhishek at Somnath Temple in his home state Gujarat. His jalabhishek of Lord Shiva was telecast live by almost all the television channels across the country. The PM was accompanied by BJP president Amit Shah and temple trust chairman and veteran BJP leader Keshubhai Patel.
This is Modi’s 10th visit to his home state and first to Somnath Temple since he took over as Prime Minister. With the going getting tough in UP, the BJP shifted gear and switched from development plank to mandir and Hindutva politics. The Prime Minister, who had sought “blessings” at Kashi Vishwanath temple before starting his roadshow at Varanasi on March 4, had also begun his speech at the Town Hall with the chant of Har Har Mahadev.
Talking about the Prime Minister’s visit to Somnath on the day of the polling, a senior BJP leader said, “There was nothing wrong in offering prayers at Somnath temple and it has nothing to do with elections.”
In a scathing attack, Congress spokesperson Sandeep Diskhit said that the public telecast of Prime Minister’s visit to Somnath Temple was “a naked communal appeal on a voting day”. Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari said that the Prime Minister has “denuded the institution by his chicanery.”
Apart from the debate raging over the public telecast of his jalabhishek coinciding with voting in UP, Modi’s visit to Gujarat assumes significance as the state is slated to go for polls next year and the reports indicate that all'’ not well for the BJP.
Over the past few years the BJP had been losing the support of influential Patidar community. The Dalits in the state are also up in arms against the party.
The 2015 civic polls was a loud wake up call for the party. While the BJP won 2,017 taluka panchayat seats the Congress bounced back with 2,548 taluka panchayat seats. The Congress had also wrested 20 of the 31 panchayat seats from the BJP.
