He will visit four places of worship during his four-day State tour

All-India Congress Committee president Rahul Gandhi is set to begin his poll campaign from Ballari district later this week. What is significant is that his itinerary includes four prominent religious institutions — two of them relate to the Lingayat faith, one is a place revered largely by the Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Dalits, and the last one is a famous dargah of the Hyderabad-Karnataka region.

This seems aimed at the Lingayat electorate — whom Chief Minister Siddaramaiah hopes to woo — and the AHINDA (Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes, and Dalits) constituencies. While his temple visits drew criticism from a section of people during the Gujarat polls as “soft Hindutva”, his itinerary for the Karnataka visit appears to be attempting a balance to avert this.

Mr. Gandhi, during his four-day tour, will visit Gavi Siddheshwar Mutt in Koppal and Anubhava Mantapa (considered the world’s first parliament set up by 12th century reformer Basavanna). He will also visit the temple of Huligamma near Koppal, which has a huge following among the OBC and Dalit communities. On the last day, he will visit the famed Khwaza Bande Nawaz Dargah in Kalaburagi. Two Ministers in the Siddaramaiah Cabinet are in the forefront of the agitation demanding independent religion status to Lingayats, hitherto a strong vote base in north Karnataka for the Opposition BJP.

‘Anti-Hindu’ image

Meanwhile, other Congress leaders too, over the last couple of months, have been trying to shed their party’s “anti-Hindu” image. Replying to BJP’s accusations of being anti-Hindu, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah famously claimed to be a “true Hindu” and that he had “Rama” in his name.

During his Sadhana Samavesha, Mr. Siddaramaiah visited several temples en route, including Chamundi temple (Mysuru), Malemahadeshwara temple (Chamarajanagar), Dharmasthala Manjunatheswara temple (Dakshina Kannada), Rajarajeshwari temple (Kutur-Mangaluru), Durgambika temple (Davangere) and Sangameshwara temple (Koodalasangama-Bidar).

Defending this, senior Congress leader V.S. Ugrappa said: “The BJP is trying to portray Mr. Siddaramaiah and Congress leaders as anti-Hindu by igniting sentiments of the people during events such as Hanuma Jayanti. Mr. Siddaramaiah is trying to prove that he practises inclusive Hindutva rather than exclusive Hindutva of the BJP,” he said.

According to B.L. Shankar, vice-president, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, it is a strategic move by the party, as BJP is aggressively pushing Hindutva as its poll plank here accusing Mr. Siddaramaiah of going out of his way to appease minorities. “The attempt is to prove that Congress believes in honest secularism,” he said. However, he asserted that Mr. Gandhi’s temple visits do not indicate any change in the party’s strategy, as his father and grandmother too had offered prayers in the shrines.

Sources in the Congress said Mr. Gandhi will visit various temples in Dakshina Kannada district during his campaign in Karnataka, besides offering prayers at the dargah to strike a balance.

Rituals galore

Energy Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who is heading the campaign committee, recently visited Mookambika temple in Kollur.

Visiting temples and getting blessings of seers is nothing new to the JD(S) either. With polls nearing, they are doing it more aggressively.

Party’s State president H.D. Kumaraswamy launched his Kumaraparva Yatra from Chamundeshwari temple. Former Prime Minister and party’s supremo H.D. Deve Gowda participated in Ati Rudrayaga, a 12-day grand ritual, at Sringeri Mutt last month. While there is nothing significant in BJP leaders visiting temples, the visit of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to Adichunchanagiri Mutt at Vijayanagar in Bengaluru during his visit to address the Parivarthana Yatra is being viewed as an attempt by BJP to woo major Vokkaliga voters. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Dharmastala Manjunatheshwara temple during his previous visit to the State.

The BJP is trying to portray Mr. Siddaramaiah and Congress leaders as anti-Hindu by igniting sentiments of the people during events such as Hanuma Jayanti. Mr. Siddaramaiah is trying to prove that he practises inclusive Hindutva rather than exclusive Hindutva of the BJPV.S. UgrappaCongress leader