With barely a year to go for the Assembly polls, political parties in Uttar Pradesh have started queueing up to celebrate Sant Ravidas Jayanti with an aim to woo 20 per cent dalit votes.
All major parties celebrated the birthday of Sant Ravidas with gaiety. The BJP and the AAP took the lead with PM Narendra Modi and Delhi CM Arvind
Kejriwal flying to Varanasi to pay their obeisance at Govardhan Temple.
Probably, both these leaders have the Punjab elections in mind too which is in all probaility be held at the end of 2016. Varanasi suddenly shot to importance as nearly 20,000 strong Raidasas (Disciples of Sant Ravidas) have come from Punjab to the Temple City to attend the birth anniversary of the social reformer.
“Sant Ravidas’ birthday comes every year. But such importance being attached to him is unprecedented. Modi did not come to the city last year. Even Kejriwal, who unsuccessfully contested the lok Sabha polls from Varanasi, did not bother to visit Govardhan temple in 2015. Probably, it was not the political demand of that time. This year however, the situation is stark in contrast. Elections in UP and Punjab are around the corner. Obeisance to Sant Ravidas can fetch some dalit votes and hence both leaders are here,” said a senior teacher in BHU, Mukul Chaudhary.
Refusing to buy the argument, BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said, “The party celebrates Sant Ravidas’ birthday every year. The media is talking about it because the PM has visited the birth place of the Sant.”
“Infact, Sant Ravidas’s birthday is celebrated by BJP functionaries all across the state. The SC/ST wing of the party organises special programmes at district headquarters,” Pathak said.
Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party celebrated the Sant’s birthday at the party office. Senior party leader, SRS Yadav said that Sant Ravidas was a socialist in the true sense, who was opposed to reservation. He appealed to dalits to align with the SP as it is their real saviour.
A small function was also organised at the state Congress office in Mall Avenue. In Rashtriya lok Dal (RlD) office, state chief Munna Singh Chauhan paid homage to the Sant.