Sagar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Sagar district in Madhya Pradesh in August where he will perform the Bhumi Pujan for the proposed Saint Ravidas temple, sources said on Wednesday. The programme is seen as BJP's bid to woo the Dalit vote constituency ahead of the high-stakes year-end Madhya Pradesh assembly elections.
Sources said that the MP BJP is preparing for the Saint Ravidas temple Bhumi Pujan for the temple being built by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan led BJP government in Madhya Pradesh at an estimated cost of Rs 100 crore. The MP BJP has scheduled to undertake the 'Sant Ravidas Temple Construction Yatra' on July 25 ahead of the Bhumi Pujan programme in a bid to mobilize the Dalit voters and make the programme a success.
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The Sant Ravidas Mandir Nirman Yatra will start from Mandu, Neemuch, Singrauli, Balaghat and Sheopur on July 25 and pass through 50 districts of the state and reach Sagar on August 12. The BJP is also planning the Ravidas Mahakumbh on the occasion of Saint Ravidas Jayanti in Sagar. The MP BJP government has formed a state level committee to make arrangements for the yatra.
The BJP is eyeing to consolidate the SC vote bank through the proposed yatra. As many as 35 seats in Madhya Pradesh are reserved for Scheduled Castes. About 80 lakh voters belong to Scheduled Castes. Which is about 17 percent in terms of the population of Madhya Pradesh. Although there are many sub-castes in the Scheduled Caste category, but the Jatav vote bank of Ahirwar and Gwalior Chambal in Bundelkhand has been disgruntled with the ruling BJP in the backdrop of protests in April this year to demand reservation for the communities.
The Dalits protested fiercely in the Gwalior Chambal area for reservation and were met with police force and scores of cases against the protesters.
