Narendra Modi to pray at Ayodhya
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New Delhi: Hindutva poster boy and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who reinvented himself by playing the development card after the 2002 Godhra riots and is considered the front-runner in the race to become the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, is expected to visit Ayodhya on June 20.
In a bid to polarise the ‘Hindu’ votes in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh, the BJP’s strategy seems to be blending ‘Hindutva’ with the development model. Modi, elevated to BJP campaign committee chairman for the general polls, is also likely to visit the disputed site to offer prayers at the ‘Ram temple’, perhaps his first visit after the demolition of the Babri Masjid.
Modi’s Ayodhya visit, a message to Hindus
Uttar Pradesh will play an important role in the BJP’s poll strategy — Gujarat CM Narendra Modi’s close aide, and party national general secretary Amit Shah has already been put in charge of the state.
Modi will be attending a function in Ayodhya on June 20 for Mahant Nrityagopal Das, who played an important role in the Ayodhya movement. This would be the Gujarat CM's first major political engagement outside his state after being appointed to head the campaign committee.
He will also lead the BJP's “Jail Bharo” campaign against the UPA in Jammu on June 23, the date of BJP ideologue Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s "martyrdom".
Feeling “unshackled” after the JD(U)'s exit from the BJP-led NDA over Modi's rising graph in the BJP and his “unofficial” projection as the party's PM candidate, the BJP has decided to go ahead with Modi’s public rallies across the country.
Modi's visit to Ayodhya will also be seen as a message to those "Hindu voters" who feel the BJP has been shunning the Ram Mandir issue that the BJP is serious about its commitment to build a Ram temple.
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