A mega Hanuman Chalisa recitation programme organised under the patronage of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on occasion of the death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi has reignited the debate on the Congress adopting soft Hindutva mode of politics in state as well as other parts of the country.

Though the MP unit of Congress made it clear that the Hanuman Chalisa recitation programme was being patronised by the chief minister in a personal capacity as a devotee of Lord Hanuman, the BJP hit out at the ruling party for trying to mislead the 'majority' section of society by organising such religious events.

However, given the fact that the Congress government has also focused on issues like construction of Sita Mata temple at Sri Lanka, construction of Ram van path gaman (route that Lord Ram is supposed to have taken during vanwas), setting up of huge number of cow shelters and like, political watchers say that the party is definitely trying to tread the soft Hindutva path.

On the same day the Chalisa recitation was scheduled, Kamal Nath also reviewed the progress of Ram van path gaman project and said that a trust would be formed to undertake the work. Also a few days ago, the CM gave directive to expedite the process of constructing Sita Mata temple at Sri Lanka. On Friday, he inaugurated the three-day Narmada Mahotsava, taking part in different associated rituals.

“The Congress has realised that it cannot allow the BJP to monopolise Hindutva. It was even clear during the Lok Sabha elections when senior leaders including then party president Rahul Gandhi went on a temple run. Congress realises that as the BJP has tried to appropriate the legendary non-BJP leaders like Sardar Patel or B.R. Ambedkar, it also needs to take the path of soft Hindutva,” political commentator Manish Dixit said.

As for Hanuman Chalisa recitation, Dixit said that Kamal Nath is a known Hanuman devotee and has constructed a huge temple and idol of Lord Hanuman in hometown Chhindwara, so it is not surprising if he patronises such events.

But, the recitation event did incite politics with the BJP state president Rakesh Singh commenting ahead of the event that that if the Congress was under impression that it could mislead the majority section of the society with events like Hanuman Chalisa recitation or the like, it was mistaken. “Everyone has the right to engage in religious programmes and even Congress can do it, but the party should not think that this could mislead a big section of society,” Singh said.

Reacting to it, Kamal Nath said that he did not understand why the BJP always had a stomach ache when the Congress leaders went to temples or engaged in religious work. “We are all dharma-premi (religion lovers). Has the BJP taken agency of religion?” the CM said. He also said that he did not want to comment about Rakesh Singh because his (Singh's) mouth worked ahead of his mind.

On the issue of the Congress going towards soft Hindutva, the party spokesman Narendra Saluja said that the Congress was a party of religion lovers but it did not engage in politics over religion. “Our government has taken steps to expedite work on Ram path and Sita Mata temple, has set up over 1000 cow shelters, given Rs 350 crores for development of Mahakal temple at Ujjain and so on. People of the state know that BJP only promised things but never actually tried to complete these works. We are just bothered about certificate of people and not that of BJP,” Saluja said.