Madhya Pradesh: Like BJP, Congress using the name of Ram for political mileage

From: The Times of India
Congress turns to Ram to revive fortunes
Suchandana Gupta, TNN | Apr 26, 2012, 04.38AM IST

BHOPAL: Out of power in Madhya Pradesh for eight years, the state Congress has begun adopting the BJP's electoral techniques for mission 2013. To defeat the BJP, the Congress has decided to go on a "rath yatra" and chant the name of Ram. Seven months after senior BJP leader L K Advani's cross-country Jan Chetna Rath Yatra for good governance and clean politics, the Congress will take out a yatra by the same name to expose alleged corruption, law and order breakdown and illegal mining activities against the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government.

The Congress, which always criticized the BJP for misusing the name of Ram for political mileage, will begin the yatra from the temple of the deity in Orchha on May 11. Leader of opposition Ajay Singh said, "L K Advani went on rath yatras to become the prime minister of the country. We are taking out a Rath Yatra to bring the Congress to power in MP".

After facing two consecutive defeats (2003 and 2008), insiders say, the Congress has decided to pay back BJP with its own coin in 2013. The Congress through the yatra must be hoping to emulate BJP leader Uma Bharati's Sankalp Yatra which brought down the Digvijaya Singh government in 2003.

The Congress, which has always criticized the BJP for misusing the name of Ram for political mileage, will begin its yatra from the temple of the deity in Orchha on May 11.