Bhopal: The Congress in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh seems to be looking to cash in on the popularity of controversial ‘miracle-maker’ Dhirendra Krishna Shastri Garg (26).
The state Congress unit, led by former chief minister Kamal Nath, is organising a three-day kathavachan (discourse) programme involving Shastri from 5-7 August in Nath’s home district Chhindwara.
Shastri, with his team of nearly 500 people, is expected to reach Chhindwara on 4 August. The kathavachan, Congress sources told ThePrint, is scheduled to be held between 4 pm and 7 pm, and will see Nath and his son — Chhindwara MP Nakul Nath — will be present with Shastri at a “massive pandal” being set up in Chhindwara’s Simariya village.
While the Congress insists the programme is solely a religious event, it comes months before the state holds assembly elections.
Clean shaven and often seen sporting sunglasses, Shastri pulls immense crowds with his claims of possessing miraculous powers, such as reading his devotees’ minds, curing cancer-like illnesses, and performing exorcisms.
The head priest of Bageshwar Dham in Chhatarpur district of MP, Shastri has claimed to have a connection with Hindu deity Ram and often raised demands for a ‘Hindu rashtra’ and held ‘ghar wapsi (conversion to Hinduism)’ campaigns at his ashram. He is also known to make controversial comments about women.
His popularity soared to new heights after his discourse sessions were telecast on TV during the lockdown in 2020, and he is being courted by both the BJP and the Congress in Madhya Pradesh.
BJP leader Kapil Mishra held a demonstration in his support in January, and state Home Minister Narottam Mishra has referred to him as “babbar sher”.
Shastri’s ashram has also been visited by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan along with BJP state president V.D. Sharma.
MP Congress chief Kamal Nath also visited Shastri at his ashram this February — staying for two hours and, it is learnt, praying for the party’s victory in the upcoming assembly elections.
At the time, the Congress cited Nath’s devotion to Hindu deity Hanuman as the reason for his visit to Bageshwar Dham, with Shastri also identifying himself as a devotee of Hanuman.
A Congress leader, requesting anonymity, said “Nath might have invited Shastri for the kathavachan” during the February visit.
The kathavachan programme follows several religious events held by the Congress in the state. While the BJP has accused the Congress of using religion for political gains, Nath has repeatedly described himself as a devout Hindu, saying Hinduism wasn’t a BJP monopoly.
Reached for comment, the Congress’ Madhya Pradesh media in-charge K.K. Mishra said the kathavachan was a religious event that shouldn’t be seen in the light of the elections.
The Congress, he added, has held several such religious programmes in the past.
Also Read: Dhirendra Shastri, miracle-maker of MP, is only getting bigger after rationalist challenge
Preparations in full swing
Chhindwara has been Kamal Nath’s citadel for over four decades. In the 2018 assembly polls, the Congress swept all eight seats of the district as well as the mayoral seat in the 2022 urban polls.
In 2019, when the BJP swept 28 of MP’s 29 parliamentary seats, Chhindwara was the only seat that voted for the Congress.
The preparation for the kathavachan, it is learnt, is being monitored by Kamal Nath and Nakul Nath.
Simariya village lies about 70 km from the Chhindwara district headquarters, and a 12-acre plot has reportedly been leased for a month for the programme.
The venue is close to a 108-foot Hanuman statue that Kamal Nath got built as a personal initiative along with a temple.
Around 3 lakh people are expected to attend the programme, Congress sources said.
Apart from this, a competition testing students on their religious knowledge is being conducted, and 10 students from each block will be rewarded during the kathavachan.
Congress worker Gunjan Shukla and a team working under her Monday began distributing yellow rice and pamphlets to each of the 5.5 lakh families across Chhindwara, inviting them for the programme. Shukla encouraged women and girls to dress in yellow and participate in large numbers for the kalash yatra that will be taken out on 4 August, a day before the kathavachan programme commences.
Anand Bakshi, district in-charge of the Congress’ Dharma Evam Utsav Prakosht and convenor of the Marutinandan Seva Sammittee — a Congress-affiliated religious body — is spearheading the programme.
Speaking to The Print, Bakshi said, “This is not a political event, it is a religious event organised by the Marutinandan Seva Sammittee for the people of Chhindwara. Every religious person irrespective of their ideologies is welcome. If any BJP worker comes, we will welcome them with open arms to participate in this religious event.”
This is not the first such religious event organised by the Congress in Chhindwara, he added.
“The Congress organised a kathavachan programme by Murari Bapu in April 2018, a bhajan programme involving Anoop Jalota in 2017 and, more recently, a bhajan programme by well-known bhajan singer Richa Sharma in 2022. These are not political events but those held for religious beliefs of people.”
In April, the Congress also held a ‘Dharm Samvat’, a religious discussion with priests of temples across MP, in Bhopal.
Ahead of the 2018 assembly election as well, the Congress had taken a soft Hindutva approach, with the party’s manifesto promising gaushalas in every panchayat and development of the Narmada Parikrama (circumambulation of the river) route and Ram Van Gaman Path (the route taken by deity Ram, Sita and Lakshman during their exile).
The moves seem to be paying off. In a C-Voter-ABP News opinion poll released last month, 44 percent of the respondents from across 230 constituencies in MP said they trusted Kamal Nath’s Hindutva, while 41 percent voted for Chouhan’s.
The kathavachan is seen as being aimed at wooing the Hindu voters not only in Chhindwara, but also the nearby districts of Betul, Seoni, Dewas and Hardam, among others.
“The Congress has been conducting such religious functions for a long time. These are not political events, they are held for strong religious beliefs of the leaders and the citizens,” said a Congress leader from Chhindwara.
“But this will certainly send a strong political message not just in Chhindwara but across MP.”
Political Analyst Arun Dixit, however, said the Congress’ move to promote Shastri may backfire.
“Dhirendra Shastri has been raising pro-BJP issues, whether it was the call for Hindu Rashtra or ghar vapsi. Shastri is not some respectable seer but a man who calls girls ‘empty plots’,” he added. “The Congress will do more damage than earn goodwill by promoting Shastri.”
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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