When the Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi started his Madhya Pradesh tour from Mohankheda, little did the people know about this place. It was also surprising for many as why the little known place was chosen by Nehru-Gandhi scion to take the State in the election mode.
Sources close to Rahul Gandhi informed that it was a well-planned and calculated move, the date for the programme was also chosen in view of the Mahavir Jayanti that fell on April 24.
Mohankheda was chosen as it is in Dhar – that was on the boil some time ago due to communal frenzy over the controversial issue of offering Namaz and Pooja at Bhojshala. Sangh parivar that was in the lookout for an issue equal to that of Ram Mandir issue, that subdued over the passage of time and court rulings is making all efforts to make Bhojshala an issue to ignite the communal feelings in the country for political gains, sources said.
This is the same Jain teerth that has been visited by late Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in the past. They said that the Congress vice president decided to deliver peace message from the very same place Dhar that is used by the Sangh parivar to ignite communal tensions. April 24, was chosen as it was the birth anniversary of messiah of non violence lord Mahavira. The first thing Rahul did after landing in Mohankheda was to visit the famous Jain pilgrimage there, offered prayers and took blessings of Jain Munis.
Former minister of erstwhile Digvijay Singh government of the State Ibrahim Qureshi while talking to The Pioneer over the issue said, “This is the basic difference between the BJP and the Congress, the saffron party tries to ignite communal fire on every issue while the Congress douses the communalism from the very same places from where communal forces tries to disturb the nation.”
Qureshi further said that the Congress vice president has again given befitting reply to the communal forces by offering prayers at the temple of messiah of peace Bhagwan Mahavir in Mohankheda of Dhar, the message is clear to the communal forces, you give message of violence from a place and we would respond by giving the message of non violence from the same place.