BHOPAL: In the year of assembly elections, politicians of all hues are making a beeline to the darbar of Dhirendra Shastri, the 26-year-old Peethadhishwar of Hanuman shrine, Bageshwar Dham in Chhatarpur district, Madhya Pradesh.
The ‘darshan’ has started with MPCC chief, an ardent Hanuman devotee Kamal Nath, offering prayers at the shrine in Garha village of Chhatarpur district, and seeking blessings of the shrine’s young Peethadhishwar on February 13.
Nath was joined by two other senior state Congress leaders, including ex-minister and close confidant Sajjan Singh Verma (who had a few days ago questioned excessive media coverage of the young godman) and ex-Union minister Arun Yadav (who was in news for opposing posters projecting Nath as party’s future CM candidate).
However, staying clear of the godman’s demand for making India a Hindu Rashtra (a yajna is underway at the Dham for the cause), Nath, on coming out of the shrine, said that India will function as per its Constitution.
Two days after the state Congress chief’s visit to Bageshwar Dham, state BJP chief and local MP VD Sharma bowed before the same Peethadhishwar and offered prayers at the shrine on Wednesday.
Not only did Sharma meet the young godman, but he also met Acharya Balkrishna, the young billionaire businessman and head of Patanjali Ayurveda company.
If sources are to be believed, then the MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan could be the next big politician, who may coming visiting the Bageshwar Dham and meet the young Peethadhishwar in the coming days.
The young godman who has been grabbing headlines and prime time space on many TV channels over many days has (as the presiding head of the famous Bageshwar Dham shrine) a huge following not only in Bundelkhand region or Madhya Pradesh but in many parts of the country.
He has been particularly in news for over a month, owing to his “miraculous powers,” which were questioned last month by a Maharashtra-based organization, Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti.
Woman dies amid milling crowds in Madhya Pradesh
On day one of the weeklong Rudraksha Mahotsava on Thursday, a Maharashtra woman, Mangla Bai, died after a heart attack amid an uncontrolled crowd at Pradip Mishra’s Kubereshwar Dham in Sehore district, the home district of MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan.