New Delhi: Notwithstanding charges of pursuing ‘soft Hindutva’ hurled at the Congress and its president Rahul Gandhi, his sister Priyanka Gandhi is likely to begin her formal political career February 4 with a holy dip at Sangam at the Kumbh Mela.
Priyanka, who will take charge as the general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East that day, will be accompanied to the Kumbh by Rahul, whose public zeal for Hinduism began with an April 2015 visit to the iconic Kedarnath shrine in Uttarakhand. After the dip, the sister-brother duo will hold a press conference in Lucknow.
According to informed sources, the Gandhis have zeroed in February 4 for the holy dip on the occasion of ‘Mauni Amavasya’ and the second ‘Shahi Snan’. But if they don’t get a chance to take a holy dip February 4, they will opt for February 10 on the occasion of ‘Basant Panchami’ and the 3rd ‘Shahi Snan’.
During the 2017 Gujarat Assembly polls in which the Congress gave a scare to the ruling BJP, Rahul had embarked on several temple visits and continued the trend during elections in Karnataka, visiting over 20 major temples and mutts.
The Congress also came out claiming Gandhi to be a ‘janeu dhari’ Hindu, prompting criticism from the BJP. And while performing prayers in Rajasthan, he revealed his ‘gotra’ as ‘Dattatreya’ – and later introduced himself as Kaul Brahmin of Dattatreya gotra.
According to a recent ‘India Today-Karvy Mood’ survey, 51 per cent respondents felt Rahul’s visits to temples challenges the BJP’s Hindutva monopoly. But the Congress leader has also come under attack for pursuing what non-BJP critics say is ‘soft Hindutva’.
IANS