Indore (Madhya Pradesh): With the state set for another battle for power, the politicians do not leave any stone unturned to get the luck not only winning the elections but also succeeding in the race for ticket.
To charm the lady luck, politicians from BJP as well as Congress and other parties have started the temple-run and the major attraction for them is Maa Baglamukhi Temple at Nalkheda in Agar Malwa.
According to priests at Nalkheda, they have received a large number of bookings from politicians for performing the ‘Yagya’ meant for the victory over their opponents.
“Bookings are mainly from the ticket aspirants as well as from those who are declared official candidates. Hundreds of politicians are expected to come to perform special puja and anushthan during the nine days of Navratri,” Pt Mukhesh Sharma said.
He said that the ticket aspirants visit the temple to get the tickets, and once they get it, they visit again to perform special rituals to ensure their victory.
"There are no shortcuts here and all the anushthan are done as per the ritual. It takes about seven hours for more than 20 pandits to chant slogans to perform the puja for ensuring victory and it depends on the candidate on how many number of chants he/she wanted to do for the same,” Sharma said.
“Chhattis Akshariya Maa Bagla Mukhi Anushthan is the most popular one as it is meant for ‘Shatru Vijay’, which means victory over the enemy/ opponent. About 11 lakh chants are being done to perform the ritual and it takes 3-5 days in which 100 pandits chant the mantras twice in a day for 8 hours,” he added. The cost of performing this anushthan is between Rs 2-4 lakh.
Over 20 bookings done
Another priest Suraj Guru said that they have confirmed the bookings of more than 20 politicians to perform the special ritual and the number will go up during Navratri and also after the list of candidates is declared.
“Congress has not declared its list yet while BJP is also going to announce more names. The number will increase more after the candidates’ announcements. Besides Madhya Pradesh, secret pujas are also being booked by many leaders from other poll-bound states like Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh” he said.
Dummy bookings to maintain secrecy
Amid the increase in enquiry and bookings, the pandits said that politicians prefer dummy bookings for performing pujas, and anushthan.
“A leader from Mathura booked for special anushthan and he will perform the rituals for a candidate from Indore. Similarly, many leaders from Malwa-Nimar are getting their bookings done in dummy names to maintain the secrecy,” pandits said.
