Akhilesh treads soft Hindutva path in run-up to 2022 UP polls
SP chief has been visiting Hindu temples, invoking deities and meeting seers almost on a regular basis
LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and his party appear to be treading the soft Hindutva path in the run-up to the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, due to be held early next year, political observers say on the basis of the former chief minister’s recent statements and visits.
Yadav is invoking the Hindu deities Ram, Krishna, Hanuman, and Parshuram, visiting Hindu pilgrimage centres like Ayodhya, Chitrakoot and meeting saints and seers, almost on a regular basis.
He made a brief stopover in Ayodhya from his Azamgarh four weeks back where he said: “Is Lord Ram not of the Samajwadis (socialists)?”
Then, on January 8, Yadav visited Chitrakoot, did a full 5.5-kilometre parikrama (circumambulation) of the Kamtanath temple at Kamadgiri barefoot in the winter chill. Kamadgiri was believed to have been the abode of Lord Ram, Sita, and Lakshman during their exile, according to religious texts.
The SP chief also visited halfa-dozen temples, including a Hanuman temple, and met seers and saints there. He took their blessings and posted all the pictures on his Twitter account. The former chief minister took credit for development of the circumambulation route and accused the BJP government of neglecting it. Before this, in Ayodhya, he had similarly stated that it was his government that planted Parijat trees on the Ayodhya parikrama routes.
“When Lord Ram returned to Ayodhya, Parijat trees showered flowers on him. Parijat is also associated with Lord Krishna, it was he who brought the tree to earth. That story is different. We revere all the incarnations of Lord Vishnu — Ram, Krishna, and others,” he had said.
He also emphasised: “I am religious. I have a temple at home, one outside, and had built one at the chief minister’s residence during my stay there.”
Political observers called it an emphatic display of soft Hindutva by the former CM and said that his party and he were trying to attract Hindu voters.
“It’s a logical strategy. The party is aware that apart from its traditional Yadav and Muslim vote banks, and secular posturing, it’s important to win over Hindu voters as well if they have to win the 2022 polls,” said Prof SK Dwivedi, a political analyst and former head of the department of political science, Lucknow University.
Delving into political theories, Dwivedi said: “WH Morris Jones, an eminent writer on Indian politics, wrote that in Indian politics three political idioms play —traditional (caste, creed, etc), modern (democracy, secularism, constitution etc), and saintly (religion, religious leaders seers, maulanas etc). What Akhilesh Yadav is exercising is saintly idiom ahead of the polls. It’s logical also considering the ruling party, the BJP, has been emphatic about its Hindutva.”
Two weeks ago, a group of Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh religious leaders from Ayodhya visited him in Lucknow. On the occasion, Ayodhya’s former SP MLA Tej Narayan Pandey aka Pawan Pandey, who is most likely to contest the 2022 polls from Ayodhya again, had accused the BJP government of ignoring Parshuram, a Brahmin warrior-god. He had said: “This BJP government scrapped the holiday that Akhileshji’s government had introduced on Parshuram Jayanti (birth anniversary).” Yadav had said several times that on return to power, he will reintroduce the holiday.
At the same event, he stated: “Lord Ram is not of BJP alone. Lord Ram is of all Indians and all the people outside India.”
Perhaps in response, chief minister Yogi Adityanath was quick to say in a public meeting: “Those who used to say Ram was kalpanik (imaginary) figure, are now saying Ram is of everyone.”
On Sunday, on his return to Lucknow from his Chitrakoot trip, Akhilesh Yadav tweeted: “Harey Krishna, Harey Krishna, Krishna Krishna Harey Harey; Harey Ram, Harey Ram, Ram Ram Harey Harey”. Along with the tweet, there was a picture of him standing at a temple.