In an unexpected initiative, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is organising a trip of Hindu devotees to the Sinhastha Kumbh in Ujjain.
In an unexpected initiative, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is organising a trip of Hindu devotees to the Sinhastha Kumbh in Ujjain.
This is the first time that the BSP has taken such an initiative and the move is apparently designed to woo upper castes Hindus for the upcoming Assembly elections.
Ms Mayawati has asked her party MLA Uma Shankar Singh to organise the trip and take pilgrims in two special trains from Ballia. The two trains, each having 24 coaches, will ferry around 5,000 pilgrims from Rasra railway station in Ballia. “We would be bearing the cost of transportation, food and lodging and I will be accompanying the pilgrims,” the BSP MLA said on Monday when the first train left for Ujjain.
While the arrangement was initially made for people from Ballia, sources said that devotees from neighbouring districts like Mau and Ghazipur are also joining in.
The BSP MLA said that he was being assisted by a team of BSP supporters and some of his friends in organising the trip.
The BSP initiative is now running parallel to the Akhilesh government’s schemes for free pilgrimage trips for senior citizens, known as Samajwadi Shravan Yatras, that have already taken pilgrims to Hardwar, Pushkar, Rameshwaram and other places of religious significance.
Ms Mayawati has always shunned religious festivals and rituals and has even warned her voters to refrain from participating in rituals which are designed to create caste disparities in society.
Political analysts feel that the turnaround by Ms Mayawati is aimed at countering the BJP’s “Hindus First” campaign that made dalits opt for the BJP instead of the BSP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
A senior party functionary, however, felt that the move could also backfire since dalits were not favourably inclined to such gimmicks.
“In her entire political career, Ms Mayawati has warned her workers against ending up as pawns in the hands of Hindu leaders and now she is doing the same herself. I do not want what is going to be the reaction of our people,” he said.
