Bhopal: The Sangh Parivar’s support base in Bhopal will be put to the test on Sunday when BJP’s Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur — a political novice — take on Congress stalwart Digvijay Singh in what is billed as one of the most interesting fights of this Lok Sabha election. Hinduism vs Hindutva took centrestage in the poll campaign, putting development issues on the backburner. BJP’s choice of Thakur to take on Singh, a former chief minister, has already underscored the saffron party’s attempt to bring the Hindutva plank at the centrestage of polls in the high-profile constituency.
And Thakur, on her part, has been claiming she was tortured in police custody when under the UPA was in power at the behest of Singh, whom she has been calling anti-Hindu during her campaign. Arrested in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, Thakur (48) was given a clean chit by National Investigation Agency (NIA), but the trial court refused to discharge her from the case. The court dropped the charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against her, and she is now being tried under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
She was granted bail by the Bombay High Court in 2017. Interestingly Singh (72) roped in maverick Namdev Tyagi, popularly known as Computer Baba who emerged as a Hindu leader in Madhya Pradesh after the previous BJP government in the state accorded him minister of state status and appointed him on a panel to clean the Narmada. The self-styled god man, in the run-up to the assembly election last year, parted ways with BJP and switched to Congress and campaigned for it. The Congress after coming to power after 15 years in MP paid him back by appointing him chairman of a river trust.
Tyagi, along with other ascetics, organised a yagna under the blazing sun for the Congress leader’s victory on Tuesday here. Singh and his wife Amrita and took part in the yagna. Singh and Tyagi also led a roadshow in which the sadhus chanted ‘Jai Shri Ram’, demanding Ram temple be built at Ayodhya at the earliest, much to the surprise of many. The sadhus criticised the BJP for going back on its promise on the Ram Temple construction.
The election in Bhopal is being seen as a litmus test for the RSS which is believed to have played a key role in Thakur’s selection to take on Singh, a vocal critic of the Sangh Parivar. “Thakur is a novice in politics whereas Digvijay Singh is a sharp politician,” an RSS ideologue and BJP leader said, adding, “She is just a deeply religious person. Thakur does not have any political experience or temperament. She is just a face. The May 12 election in Bhopal is in fact going to be a test for the RSS and the BJP.”
