With havans and temple runs, SP’s ‘soft Hindutva’ answer to the BJP challenge

The party has chosen Devkali, a prominent Hindu religious site in Lakhimpur Kheri district, for its first two-day training camp, beginning June 5. Devkali is associated with Mahabharat and is considered to be the place where Abhimanyu’s grandson Janmejay performed a grand yagna. People believe that the soil of the temple protects them from snakes.

A college campus adjacent to Devkali temple has been chosen for the training camp.

“Devkali is a prominent religious place. It is obvious that when all the senior leaders and workers of the party will come here to attend the training camp, they will visit the temple to seek blessings,” SP’s Lakhimpur Kheri district president Rampal Yadav said, adding that party chief Akhilesh Yadav and senior leader Shivpal Singh Yadav would address the workers at the camp.

The party’s next training camp will be organised at Naimisharanya Dham — nearly 100 km south of Devkali temple and a prominent religious place in Sitapur district — on June 9 and 10. Akhilesh and senior party leaders are likely to perform havan at Naimisharanya Dham.

“All the party leaders, including national president Akhilesh Yadav, will take a tour of Naimisharanya Dham and perform havan before inaugurating the training camp. The camp will start after performing religious rituals at Chakratirth, Lalita Devi Temple, and Vyas Gaddi at Naimisharanya Dham,” training camp convener and former SP MLA Rampal Yadav told The Indian Express.

The four Lok Sabha constituencies of Sitapur, Dhaurahra, Mishrikh, and Mohanlalganj are close to Naimisharanya Dham. Recently, the Yogi Adityanath government drew up a religious tourism development plan for Naimisharanya.

“Booth presidents and sector in-charge from adjoining Assembly segments have been invited to the training camp, which will be located around 500-metre from the Naimisharanya temple premises,” the SP leader said, adding political issues, electoral strategy, and booth management would be discussed at the training camps.

Sources in the SP said the party leadership’s decision to visit Hindu religious places ahead of the Lok Sabha polls should be seen in the context of the scheduled inauguration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya early next year, which the BJP will look to use to its electoral advantage.

“In last year’s Assembly elections in the state, the SP got a majority share of Muslim votes but still could not unseat the BJP from power. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, when the SP and BSP were contesting in alliance and the entire Muslim community voted for the coalition, then also we could win only 15 of the 80 seats together. Now, when the Ram temple is coming up in Ayodhya, a strong Hindu-Muslim polarisation in 2024 can hurt the winning prospects of the Opposition. Therefore, the SP does not want to depend only on minority votes to help it defeat the BJP and wants all the sections of the society to vote for the party,” said a senior SP leader.

As reported in The Indian Express on May 27, the SP is trying to evolve into what it calls a “hybrid, mass-based party” with a new, dedicated organisational structure. Organising training camps for its workers in various Lok Sabha constituencies across the state on its ideology and equipping them with arguments to counter the BJP are a part of this strategy.

“Various factors, like asymmetric treatment of some political parties by the media, open and blatant use of religion in politics, and saffronisation of institutions, have posed challenges for a mass-based party like the SP. Under the changed political landscape of UP. There is a need for a more cohesive organisational structure, and the SP is working on it,” a party leader said earlier.