Will Narmada pilgrimage help Digvijay politically?
NK SINGH
His political pot shots have earned him an anti-Hindu image. He is a favourite hate target for the saffron brigade. But few know that Congress leader Digvijay Singh is a deeply religious man, a devout Hindu. He probably practices more rituals than all housewives of Madhya Pradesh, the State he ruled for 10 years, combined together. He observes most fasts prescribed in scriptures. He goes to Vrindavan for the 24 km foot march around holy Govardhan hill almost every year. Once, as chief minister, he had taken his entire cabinet to Mathura for the ritual, many of them returning with blisters on their feet. He never misses a chance to visit famous temples during Navratri. He keeps going on annual pilgrimage to Pandharpur in Maharashtra.
As he enters 71st year of his life, Singh has embarked upon yet another pilgrimage. But this time his pilgrimage has generated controversy.
Skipping the traditional Dussehra puja in the family fort of Raghogarh – it is a ritual that Raja Saheb, as he is called among his followers, has probably never missed in his life – and taking a sabbatical from his responsibilities as AICC general secretary, Singh is walking the 3,800 km long banks of Narmada. He plans to finish the arduous ritual within six months. His wife, TV journalist Amrita Rai, has quit her job to join him.
Narmada is the river of faith for millions living along its banks. Thousands of pilgrims circumambulate its banks, starting from its source at Amarkantak hills in MP to the river’s mouth at Bharuch in Gujarat, where it drains into Arabian Sea. For months, and sometime for years, they rough it out, living off alms, sleeping under stars, cooking food over cowdung fire and worshiping Narmada water, the giver of life.
The Congress leader wants us to believe that like other ordinary devotees, it is a spiritual journey for him too. It is not a political pilgrimage, he claims. It is a claim one finds hard to believe. Spiritualism is basically a personal, and often private, affair. But Digvijay Singh’s pilgrimage is neither personal, nor private. Like the recently concluded Narmada yatra of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Digvijay’s pilgrimage is essentially a branding exercise, aimed at re-establishing brand Digvijay.
As the pilgrimage completes a fortnight, it is gaining traction. Crowd following the couple is swelling with every passing day. Supporters have arranged for posters, hoardings and festoons on pathways. Their ladies wait with rangoli, kalash and aarti along the way. The welcome parties come forward with band, baaja and bhajans. Digvijay Singh had apparently contacted Congress workers in the area before undertaking the journey. No wonder, the crowd consists mostly of political workers, many of whom are aspirants for party ticket in next year’s assembly election
Singh does not discuss politics. But passing through unpaved roads and dirt tracks, sometimes wadding through knee deep water, he talks to ordinary folks – the peasants and agricultural labourers. Many are seen giving him petitions. His every moment is chronicled and posted online within minutes for posterity. A group of political workers following him is busy collecting social and economic demographic profile of the areas he is passing through. The route Singh marches through includes 110 assembly segments of MP and 20 segments in Gujarat. He will be actually travelling through Gujarat, which is expected to go to polls in December, when electioneering will be at its peak.
Singh is arguably the only Congress politician in the State with a pan-MP base, thanks to the party organisation he helped nurture during the BJP regime in early 90s. His acceptability in the organisation has gone up ever since he publicly opted out of chief ministerial race recently. Hence Congress workers from all groups, including his former detractors, are coming forward to welcome him.
As the party winds its way through interior villages, observers cannot help noticing that the pilgrims’ party is passing through areas that form the main vote bank of Chouhan, the man who helped BJP romp home in two successive elections. The yatra’s impact has caused concern in a government that mistakes event management for good governance. BJP is watching it with keen interest. Last week Digvijay complained about lack of night shelters along the Narmada parikrama trail. The next cabinet meeting cleared a project to construct 92 shelters and 190 bathing ghats along the way! What his yatra has achieved is to energise a moribund party, gasping for breath for 15 years now. Congress out of power is like fish out of water.
Tailpiece: The MP Government commissioned filmmaker Prakash Jha to produce a documentary on Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s efforts to save Narmada. The 45 minute film, produced at a cost of Rs two crore, was scheduled to be released in the first week of October. But now it has been canned, probably till March next year. Powers that be feel that if the movie is released now, it may end up generating publicity for Digvijay Singh’s yatra.
My column in DB Post of 16th Oct 2017
Email: nksexpress@gmail.com
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