In Hindutva lab', Digvijay Singh outmatches Sadhvi Pragya

Bhopal: Veteran leader and Congress candidate from Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency Digvijay Singh appeared to have outmatched his BJP rival Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, the saffron party’s rookie Hindutva face, as far as temple runs during their campaigning are concerned.

The BJP has literally turned election in Bhopal as its “Hindutva laboratory” by fielding Pragya, an accused in 2008 Malegaon terror blast incident, in the constituency provoking Mr Singh to take recourse to “havan” and roadshows of “sadhus” to counter her religious appeal among the voters.

Interestingly, Mr Singh seemed to have left his key poll rival far behind if the intensity of saffronisation of his campaigning was taken into consideration.

The former chief minister had kicked off his election campaign, after he was declared candidate on March 26, by visiting famous Ganesh temple in Sehore, around 40 km from here. He had then gone on temple hopping for nearly a month before hitting the streets to canvass for votes from people. He had visited as many as 83 mutts, Hindu temples, gurdwaras and mosques since then.

Besides, he attended religious discourses delivered by some renowned seers during the period. He had organised “havan” for him and staged roadshow of seers here to cast off his “anti-Hindu image”. He had invited some religious leaders to campaign for him, besides some prominent political leaders.

Sadhvi Pragya, who launched her campaign on April 19, could only visit 21 temples since then. She also started her campaign by visiting a Ganesh temple here.

Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analysis et al. Happy reading.