Ayodhya a poll pilgrimage for Maha

Lucknow: One end of the ongoing tug-of-war between the Thackeray clan in Maharashtra seems to be connecting with Ayodhya, the city of faith. Soon after the announcement of Raj Thackeray’s visit to Ayodhya in June, Aaditya Thackeray, son of Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Tourism Minister, also announced a trip to this holy city.

Notably, all political parties have high stakes in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections to be held this year. After the failure of the Marathi ‘manoos’ card in previous polls, MNS Chief Raj Thackeray has set out on the path of hardline Hindutva politics to regain political weight in his state.

The Hanuman Chalisa-Azaan row and Loudspeaker issue seems to have brought the MNS back into the folds of political relevancy. Even this new Hindutva avatar of Raj Thackeray has received praise from several BJP leaders.

Political observers believe that in the backdrop of BMC polls, there is seemingly a fierce competition between BJP, Shiv Sena and MNS over Hindutva credentials.

With BJP and MNS toiling to create the perception that Shiv Sena has diluted its core ideology of Hindutva after sharing power with Congress-NCP; the Uddhav Thackeray-led party is passing through a state of nervousness.

Shiv Sena, worried about the activities of Raj Thackeray, is also trying to assert its Hindutva stance. Since the Ayodhya issue is a powerful symbol in the Hindutva political space, the Shiv Sena also geared up to counter the plan of Raj Thakare’s visit to Ayodhya.

Meanwhile, amidst Thakeray clan’s Ayodhya visit row, Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole is also preparing to visit Temple Town accepting the invitation of the saints of Dashrath Gadi of Ayodhya. Earlier, Rohit Pawar, the grandson of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, had also reached Ayodhya last week and worshiped Ram Lalla.