Ujjain: History repeats itself. And this ‘Parivar’ makes it a point to visit Mahakal on every ‘Maha Moment’ that is General Elections-2019. A politically turmoiled Indira Gandhi had visited Mahakaleshwar Temple on December 29, 1979 when the Congress had lost parliamentary elections woefully in 1977 in the aftermath of “Emergency Period”.
Despite being barred from entering the sanctumsanctorum during the bhasmaarti, as per the rituals, the ‘Iron Lady’ waited outside for more than 90 minutes and then performed puja. She returned to power and died in harness, but never returned to pay obeisance. Likewise, ahead of the MP Assembly elections in 2008, Sonia Gandhi on June 20 worshipped at Mahakal temple. She also offered a ‘swarn kalash’ (golden pot).
However, the party failed to return to power in the state. At a time when the party was considered to be in bad patch, the third generation scion, Rahul Gandhi, performed ‘panchamrut pujan’ at Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlingam on October 29, 2018 before hitting the hustings in the BJP-dominated Malwa- Nimar region. This Time, the Congress succeeded to return to power by dethroning the BJP.
Now, it is the turn of Priyanka, who is scheduled to visit Mahakal temple on Monday. This is the first visit of Priyanka to MP after getting assignment of AICC general secretary. With the final round is approaching, she has spared time to reach out to the Mahakal City.
It’s Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s turn to pay obeisance to Baba Mahakal here on Monday. She is a fourth member of Gandhi family after Indira Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi who will be visiting the Mahakaleshwar temple. Though Rahul Gandhi, father Rajeev Gandhi visited Ujjain more than twice, Priyanka is visiting here for the first time. Both Indira and Sonia visited Mahakal temple once.
Interestingly, Indira Gandhi sought blessings from Lord Mahakal at the time when Congress was in troubled waters after emergency era whereas Rahul Gandhi visited the temple at the time when his party was reduced to 44 seats in 545-member Lok Sabha in 2014. SIGNIFICANCE OF HER VISIT As the electioneering for Lok Sabha polls 2019 seat enters crucial phase, Congress party is also making efforts to penetrate the traditional bastion of BJP.
Though Priyanka agreed to take responsibility of AICC general secretary four months ago, she wished to concentrate only on eastern Uttar Pradesh during Lok Sabha polls. Speculations were rife that she may contest the polls, but finally she limited herself to campaigning. The party strategists think that her visit to Mahakal will draw attention of masses before the polling day on May 19.
Her election meeting at Ratlam and then the road show at Indore have been planned keeping in mind the party’s last ditch effort to dilute the influence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on urban, middle classes, specially the Hindu voters of this region. On the eve of Priyanka’s visit, people were curious to know whether this exercise would be able to make atmosphere conducive for the Congress.
