LUCKNOW: Keeping the Assembly polls, scheduled for early next year in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, in sight, the ruling BJP launched its mega Dalit outreach programme from the Sant Ravidas Temple in Varanasi on Wednesday by taking out a nationwide Kalash Yatra, Shri Guru Ravidas Maharaj Samrasta Sankalp Abhiyan.
Moreover, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced the renaming of Bhadohi district as Sant Ravidas Nagar on the occasion of the 650th Prakash Parv of the 15th-century poet-saint.
It may be recalled that Bhadohi was renamed Sant Ravidas Nagar by then Chief Minister Mayawati during her 2007-2012 tenure. However, her successor, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who took over as Chief Minister in 2012, reversed the decision and restored the name Bhadohi during his tenure from 2012 to 2017.
For the Kalash Yatra, BJP workers carried 131 urns containing soil from the birthplace of Sant Ravidas at Seer Govardhanpur to different parts of the country. The mega event was flagged off on Wednesday in the presence of CM Yogi Adityanath, who was accompanied by his two deputies, Keshav Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, and UP BJP chief Pankaj Chaudhary.
The campaign was scheduled to be launched in the presence of party national president Nitin Nabin, but he could not make it to Varanasi as he was preoccupied with the Bankipur bypoll in Bihar.
Significantly, the Sant Ravidas Temple has remained the nucleus of the BJP’s Dalit outreach since 2008, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting the shrine three times since 2016.
Led by BJP SC Morcha national president Lal Singh Arya and state general secretary (organisation) Dharampal Singh, party workers gathered at the Ravidas Temple and filled 131 urns with soil from the saint’s birthplace.
The campaign, which began on Guru Purnima on Wednesday, will conclude on Maghi Purnima on February 20, 2027.
Maghi Purnima is celebrated as Ravidas Jayanti. The political significance of the temple increased after then Chief Minister Mayawati attempted to develop a grand park at Sant Ravidas’ birthplace in Seer Govardhanpur in 1997, although the project faced opposition from the Yadav-dominated local population.
The BSP supremo attended Ravidas Jayanti celebrations as Chief Minister in 2008 and gifted a golden palanquin to the temple.
She also ensured the creation of Ravidas Park and a ghat in the saint’s name along the Ganga. Following Mayawati’s visits, leaders from almost all political parties began visiting the Ravidas Temple, considering the poet-saint an important figure in their Dalit outreach efforts.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended Ravidas Jayanti celebrations in 2016 and 2019 and also visited the temple in 2023. After participating in Ravidas Jayanti celebrations in 2018, CM Yogi visited the temple several times to monitor the ambitious project for the development of the saint’s birthplace.
Congress MPs Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, former Delhi Chief Minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, and former Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi have also visited the temple in recent years.
The satsang ground of the Ravidas Temple at Seer Govardhanpur, which was selected for Mayawati’s dream project by SP functionaries in 1997, later hosted the SP-BSP grand alliance rally ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The rally was addressed by Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati on May 6, 2019.
