New Delhi: The war cry of ‘Jai Bajrang Bali’ hailing Hindu deity Hanuman, which was heard during the Karnataka assembly poll campaign, is set to reverberate in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh too.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan Thursday laid the foundation stone of the Shri Hanuman Lok project on state Congress chief Kamal Nath’s home turf of Chhindwara, where the latter had years ago installed an over 100-feet idol of the deity and built a temple.
“Madhya Pradesh is my temple and the people residing here are my bhagwan (god). Shivraj Singh Chouhan aapka pujari hai (is your worshipper),” the CM said.
He added that “Hanuman Lok will become a centre of spiritual and cultural consciousness for India”.
Nath, who has been a nine-time MP from Chhindwara, told ThePrint that the project was an “election gimmick” by a “chunavi bhakt” (election devotee).
“I am a Hanuman bhakt and Shivrajji is being a chunavi bhakt. This is an election gimmick. They only remember god during elections. We (Congress) don’t play politics over religion and the people of Madhya Pradesh know this very well,” he said.
“In October 2016, Shivraj Singh Chouhan had announced that Rs 22 crore would be spent on development of the Jam Sawali temple. In 2023, he has again gone to the same place and made the same announcement. Not a single penny has been spent yet,” the former CM added.
Speaking to ThePrint, a state government official explained what the Hanuman Lok project will entail.
“It will have a grand entrance gate inspired by Marathwada architecture and will display the image of Lord Hanuman. There will also be a 500-metre chiranjeevi path starting from the entrance to the first courtyard,” he said.
The 90,000 sq ft area of the chiranjeevi path and the first courtyard will depict Hanuman’s childhood form through artworks. The second courtyard will depict the devotional form of the deity through sculptures and artifacts, the official added.
“A Muktakash Manch, an open-air theatre, will be built for Ramlila and other religious events. Apart from this, an ayurvedic hospital will be built on campus,” he said.
The BJP-led Madhya Pradesh government’s Hanuman Lok project sets the stage for a possible repeat of what happened in Karnataka, where the Congress’ poll promise to ban organisations like the Right-wing Bajrang Dal triggered a political slugfest.
In Madhya Pradesh, however, former CM and Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has sought to avoid any controversy, telling the media this month that there won’t be any ban on the Bajrang Dal if the party came to power.
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Eyeing Hindu vote
Apart from the BJP, the Congress too has been eyeing the Hindu vote in Madhya Pradesh, where assembly polls are scheduled to be held later this year.
Earlier this month, Nath, who calls himself a Hanuman bhakt and a proud Hindu, organised Dhirendra Shastri’s katha in Chhindwara.
In June, the Bajrang Sena, a little-known Right-wing outfit, merged with the Congress. At the merger ceremony held at the party’s head office in Bhopal, Nath was handed a mace amid chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also visited the Mahakal temple in Ujjain during his Bharat Jodo Yatra last November.
In the wake of the assembly polls, the Congress has announced that it would conduct recitation of ‘Sunderkand paath’ in all 230 assembly constituencies of Madhya Pradesh.
On the Congress’ efforts, Hitesh Bajpai, spokesperson of Madhya Pradesh BJP, told ThePrint: “The real Congress is what (party leader) Aziz Qureshi says it is. He worked with Jawaharlal Nehru and was a minister in 1967. He categorically said ‘this is not the Congress which appeases Hindus or Hindutva’.”
“It means that today’s Congress is ‘electoral Hindu’, because the DNA of the party is Muslim-appeasement in order to gather votes,” he added.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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