The Opposition’s compulsion is that it does not want to go against the majority euphoria that has given two terms to Modi and UP to the BJP

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Varanasi blitzkrieg climaxes with the launching of the Vishwanath corridor with its strong Hindu, Hindutva or Hinduism thrust. The Rs 339 crore project is completed in less than three years.

Amid the reverberation of the Har Har Mahadev chants and the festive mood, there is a veiled feeling of reestablishing the supremacy of the Hindu ethos.

How the Vishwanath corridor shapes up in Uttar Pradesh will decide the course of the 2024 general elections, which may be held after a new delimitation to elect 888 Lok Sabha MPs against the present 543. The politics in UP are becoming more complex and may finally complicate Indian politics.

The opposition is in a bind. The compulsion of the opposition is that it does not want to go against the majority euphoria that has given two terms to Modi and also put UP in BJP's kitty.

Now Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav takes the credit for sanctioning the corridor that today eloquently reminds of Maratha queen Ahilyabai Holkar and the rise of BJP.

A foxed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has also fallen for the bait and says that now a Hindu government has to unseat the proponents of Hindutva. That is a problem. Careful weaving of religious ethos into politics is setting the election mood. The problems of price rise, kisan, joblessness, the difficult business scenario, they all pale into insignificance, says a UP minister during the Varanasi celebrations.

Yes, Modi has made a difference. Except for once on December 3, 2018 in an election rally, Modi has never reflected his idea on Hindutva. Responding to Rahul Gandhi, he said, ""Oh brother …Hindutva…is a rich heritage. Even the sages never claimed to have full knowledge of Hindu and Hindutva. I am a very small man and I do not claim to have such vast knowledge."

It is different from what LK Advani had said in his party presidential address in 2004, "Hindutva is a sentiment, it is neither an electoral slogan nor should it be confused with religion". In his view Hindutva is the core of our nationhood. But Advani was confined by the Supreme Court narrative that it was a way of life. Modi has made it a wave and connected the majority.

The opposition has lost its secularism plank and now finds it difficult to reject the Hindu in any form as Varanasi and Lord Vishwanath are its unwritten core. It sways the majority mindset.

Varanasi is very critically located too. It influences directly UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. Being a cultural epi-centre, it touches other regions up to far off Rameswaram in the south. Anything new at the Lord's abode touches hearts everywhere. The expansion of the temple complex to over 5.3 lakh square feet area, the spruced-up city, the easy access to the temple, and the clean Ganga ghats touch everyone.

Carefully, the issue of the Gyanvapi mosque has been sidelined though it is not outside the larger agenda. The Sangh Parivar wants it resolved through a proposal coming from the minority community. The RSS' Muslim RashtriyaManch is already trying to carve out a niche among minorities and calling upon Muslims to act against terrorism.

The two-day stay of the Prime Minister and the beginning of a month-long celebration at Varanasi is aimed at setting the tone for the UP election. It has set a new political commonness in Hindutva. The opposition Congress, various regional parties, Samajwadi, Aam Admi Party, are now playing on the turf of the BJP. Even the CPM is not ignoring the presence of the strong Hindu sentiments.

With an evening Ganga aarti with chief ministers and deputy CMs of various BJP-ruled states and a conclave of 12 BJP CMs and nine deputy CMs, the party is all set to sweep the mood, perhaps beyond the 2022 UP polls.

The opposition has been sharpening their weapons post-withdrawal of the three farm laws, but the Varanasi corridor may make their path to capture power arduous. It might bring a disunited opposition on one platform, as Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi put it on Monday.

The BJP is upbeat but is not oblivious of the opposition unity moves. The Prime Minister's speech is full of how prepared the BJP is. However, that does not mean that the opposition is not making efforts to unseat the BJP. Whether they would succeed or not would decide the course not only of UP but the Lok Sabha in 2024 as well.

(The writer is a senior journalist. The views expressed are personal.)