As Madhya Pradesh is inching closer to bypolls for 28 assembly seats, all kinds of issues are cropping up in the political arena. The Congress party has been left fuming with the BJP allegedly trying to rake up the Ram temple issue in poll-bound constituencies.
A video has gone viral in Surkhi assembly constituency in Sagar where the BJP is likely to field a Congress turncoat, former MLA Govind Singh Rajput.
In the said video, a man, supposedly a BJP worker, addresses a woman with the picture of Lord Ram, saying, “Govind bhaiya ab phool walon ke sath hain...ek –ek vote se Ram Mandir me ek-ek eint lagegi (Govind bhaiya is with the BJP now and if you vote for him, every vote will turn into a brick to be put in the Ram temple).”
Surkhi is the same seat from where the BJP has reportedly started a Ramshila Yatra and plans to take this yatra to all the poll-bound constituencies including Ashoknagar, Mungaoli and Sanver by October. The ruling party did not officially announce this yatra and it’s being planned and executed by the RSS and it’s affiliate organisations.
In Surkhi, five vehicles have left in five directions, carrying bricks made of eight metals including silver. The yatra is covering various areas of the constituency.
It was Rajput who had days ago flagged off this yatra from Surkhi amid much fanfare, on September 2.
The Congress party is certainly not pleased. It complained to the Election Commission of India a couple of days ago about Lord Ram’s name being used for political gains ahead of the bypolls.
"Though the poll schedule is yet to be declared, but elections have been announced by the EC, so the BJP using Lord Ram’s name in electioneering is not justified," said Congress spokesperson JP Dhanopia who claimed that the party has complained to the EC on the said video and Ramshila Yatra being taken out by the BJP.
Recently the yatra was out in Ashoknagar district, he added.
The BJP is, however, distancing itself from the yatra. Party spokesperson Deepak Vijayvargiya told News18 that the yatra is being taken out locally and the BJP has nothing to do with it. He also feigned ignorance about whether the yatra was continuing or not.
Cabinet minister Bhupendra Singh, a native of Sagar, said that Lord Ram always has been at the centre of faith for the BJP which does not politicise his name.
Govind Singh Rajput is a close aide of Rajya Sabha member Jyotiraditya Scindia and had quit the Congress party in March this year and is now a cabinet minister in the Shivraj Chouhan government.
Via PakapNews