Gearing up for the next year's assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress is trying to widen its appeal among masses by planning to celebrate the upcoming 'Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti' and has asked its cadres to recite Sundarkand (a part of Ramayana) and Hanuman Chalisa.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has ridiculed the move as 'hypocrisy' saying Congress leaders had termed Lord Ram as an imaginary character.
A letter, issued on behalf of MP Congress president Kamal Nath, directed the party leaders and workers to hold religious programmes on April 10 and April 16 to mark Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti, respectively.
"On both these auspicious religious festivals, recitation of Lord Ram Katha, programmes of Ramlila and worship of Lord Ram should be organised. Besides, the recitation of Sundarkand and Hanuman Chalisa should be organised on Hanuman Jayanti," stated the letter issued by Chandraprabhash Shekhar, a vice-president in-charge of the organisation.
Nath will issue a message on Ramnavmi and hold a religious programme on Hanuman Jayanti at Chhindwara, his home turf, it said.
Queried about the Congress' move, MP Congress general secretary and media in-charge K K Mishra told PTI that this is not the first time that such directives were issued.
"PCC president Kamal Nath is a devotee of Lord Hanuman and has been holding such programmes in Chhindwara for the past several years. Congress leaders had organised similar programmes last year," he said.
BJP spokesman Pankaj Chaturvedi said the letter has exposed the hypocrisy of Congress.
"The Congress plays the politics of appeasement. Congress leaders had termed Lord Ram and Ramsetu imaginary. They opposed the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. A Congress leader equated Hindus with terror organisations like ISIS and Boko Haram. The people know their hypocrisy and can't be misled," he alleged.
In the 2018 polls, Congress came to power in MP with the support of Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party, but the Kamal Nath-led government lasted in power for only 15 months following the rebellion by a section of MLAs who quit the party along with Jyotiraditya Scindia and subsequently joined BJP.
Later, BJP formed the government under Shivraj Singh Chouhan for another term.
The next elections in MP are due in November 2023.
