Temple bells ring as Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Karnataka nears

After Modi visited Bengaluru, Congress has called upon Rahul Gandhi to back their campaign. The president of the All Indoa Congress Committee will be touring the state for 3 days. Both him and Siddaramaiah will be meeting various groups around the state to begin Congress’ campaign for the upcoming elections.

Rahul Gandhi’s temple tour

Rahula Gandhi will be in the state on 10th February. He will kick off a tour around the state beginning in the Ballari district in Karnataka. In these four days, he will be visiting four temples. This invites much speculation. Two temples of the four belong to the Lingayat community. One of them is a centre of worship for the Dalits and Other Backward Classes. He will also be visiting the dargah of Khwaja Bande Nawaz in Kalaburgi. This still harps on the Congress idea of secularity.

All this effort is also being made to challenge the ‘anti-Hindu’ tag that has been attached to Congress in the state.  The strategy to visit temples doesn’t reveal much difference when compared to the strategy adopted in Gujarat. The temples awaiting his visit are- Gavi Siddheshwar Mutt near Koppal, the Anubhava Mantapa, and the temple of Huligamma.

The strategy

Visiting temples is not a new strategy considering BJP members did visit various temples in their campaign as well. Yogi Adityanath visited the Adichunchanagari Mutt during BJP’s parivarthana yatra. Although Modi didn’t visit any temples on his visit this time, the last time he came he visited the Dharamastala Manjunatheshwara temple. What Rahul Gandhi plans on his visit to Karnataka is not to hold massive rallies but do more roadshows and gather more information on the state and its functioning. Gandhi has also announced he’ll be setting aside some special time to meet party leaders for one and half hours every day including Rajasthan and Karnataka among others. Rahul Gandhi during his visit to the state plans to visit and meet people from different groups such as women, farmers, intellectuals, etc.

As elections near, politicians will be frequenting temples as often as students before an important exam. These temples are all a strategy to keep the voters enticed and each temple serves a strategic purpose. Temples usually are the stronghold and centre of a community. Therefore showing support to a temple would mean showing support to the people of that community. Unlike BJP, Congress is going to the nooks and crannies to build their support. But it’s not really about how many temples and places they visit but what they say and more importantly what they will do.