Bhopal: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on August 12 lay the foundation stone for a Rs 100-crore temple dedicated to 14th century mystic poet and social reformer Sant Ravidas in Madhya Pradesh's Sagar district, where he will also address a public meeting ahead of assembly polls, a state BJP minister said on Monday.
This will be PM's second visit to the BJP-ruled state, where assembly polls are due by the year-end, in just over a month. On July 1, Modi interacted with tribal leaders, women who were members of self-help groups and young football players at Pakaria village in Shahdol district.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is expecting up to 2 lakh people to attend the PM's rally and the foundation laying ceremony for the temple in Sagar dedicated to Sant Ravidas, who enjoys a nationwide following, especially among a section of Dalits.
The two programmes will also mark the culmination of the ruling party's ongoing 'Samrasta (harmony) Yatras', seen as an attempt by the saffron outfit to reach out to Dalits ahead of the polls. Five such yatras started from different parts of the state on July 25. The participants are bringing handful of soil from 53,000 villages and water from 315 water bodies, including sacred rivers. The yatra will reach Sagar on August 11 evening, MP Cooperative and Public Services Minister Arvind Bhadoria told PTI over the phone.
Between 1.50 lakh and 2 lakh people are expected at the public meeting and the foundation laying function, he said. The BJP has taken out the yatras to connect with different sections of society, especially Dalits. MP has 35 assembly seats, of the total 230, reserved for Scheduled Castes and of these, the BJP won 18 in the last elections, while the Congress bagged 17. Another BJP leader said the main aim of the yatras is to promote social harmony and amity.
The saffron party is making attempts to strengthen its base among Dalits. Some time back, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government built a Rs 3.5 crore Sant Ravidas Temple in the holy town of Maihar in Satna district. Dalit followers of Sant Ravidas, one of the most renowned figures of the bhakti movement in the medieval India, form a sizeable chunk of the SC population in the state.
Bhadoria, who is also Sagar district guardian minister, said according to a tentative plan PM Modi will reach Sagar around 1 pm.
Sagar district is located in the impoverished region in north-east Madhya Pradesh. He said the PM will address the rally and lay the foundation stone of the proposed Rs 100-crore Sant Ravidas temple near the Dhana helipad, about 20km from the Sagar district headquarters.
The BJP had put up a good show in the 2018 polls in the Bundelkhand region which consists of six districts -- Sagar, Chattarpur, Tikamgarh, Niwari, Damoh and Panna -- and accounts for 26 assembly seats. In the last assembly polls, the BJP won 15 seats in Bundelkhand, while the Congress had to contend with 9. One seat each went to the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party. In Sagar district, which has eight seats, the BJP won six and the Congress two in 2018.
The previous UPA government had announced an economic package of Rs 8,000 crore for Bundelkhand, part of which is located in Uttar Pradesh, after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's visit to the impoverished region. (PTI)
