The three-day visit of Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Shri 1008 Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati Ji Maharaj in Jammu, organized and managed by former minister and working president of Jammu and Kashmir Congress Raman Bhalla, is an indication of party's move towards adopting soft-Hindutva to counter BJP in the coming elections on two Lok Sabha seats of Jammu province.
During his three-day stay in Jammu, Jagadguru Shankaracharya addressed various congregations, and Congress workers mustered the support of the people to make these religious events successful.
Although no political statement was given in these religious events held in different parts of Jammu province, Congress leaders were at the forefront to receive the Hindu religious leaders.
Impact of Karnataka assembly elections
Buoyed over the success of the just concluded Karnataka assembly on the "Jai Bajrang Bali" slogan, Congress is set to counter the party's anti-Hindu image in the run-up to the general election to be held in May next year.
Highly placed sources said that Congress leadership has drawn up elaborate plans to take on the ruling BJP and its saffron on the issue of Hindutva.
The idea is to counter the BJP's hard Hindutva with soft Hindutva, and for this purpose, Congress has made the "Dharmik and Utsav Prakosth" fully active now.
Although a group within Congress has already started a campaign to take some steps to counter its anti-Hindu image, the outcome of the Karnataka assembly polls boosted such a campaign.
During campaigning for the Karnataka assembly elections, Congress workers have started shouting "Jai Bajrang Bali" slogans as a damage control exercise after the party announced to ban on Bajrang Dal.
Sources said that as part of the national wide campaign to counter its anti-Hindu campaign, Jammu-based Congress leaders arranged the visit of Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Shri 1008 Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati Ji Maharaj in Jammu.
Shankaracharya's press notes were issued from the official mail id of J&K Congress
Press note of the visit of Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Shri 1008 Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati Ji Maharaj in Jammu was issued from the official mail id of the Jammu and Kashmir Congress which is a clear indication that it was the party's programme.
In Madhya Pradesh, Congress has already set up Dharma Evam Utsav Prakoshta, headed by preacher Richa Goswami. The cell has already held several religious events like Sunderkand and Rudraabhishek on the occasion of Mahashivratri, and Bhagavad Katha and Hanuman Chalisa readings. In the next few weeks, the cell will organize Sunderkand recitals across the state.
"The Congress leaders were always religious but they never displayed their religiosity in public. They were religious in private but the BJP maligned them as anti-religion," said 32-year-old Goswami, who began preaching when she was only five.
"I have always been holding religious events. It's just that I am doing them on the platform provided by the Congress." The cell has so far appointed chiefs in every district and block of the state.
