Rahul Gandhi to visit Assamese icon Sankardev's birthplace on day of Ram temple opening in Ayodhya

Political observers in Assam believe Gandhi is trying to display another face of Hinduism in order to counter BJP's brand as a Hindu party ahead of Lok Sabha polls.

Guwahati: Congress on Sunday said that party leader Rahul Gandhi would visit Batadrava than at Bardowa - the birthplace of 15th century Vaishnavite Saint Srimanta Sankardev - in Central Assam's Nagaon district, on Monday, the day when Ram temple at Ayodhya is scheduled to be opened for devotees.

Although Gandhi was planning to visit the than between 8 AM to 9 AM as part of his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, authorities of the Vaishnavite monastery denied him permission to visit it before 3pm in order to avoid the large crowd they are expecting in view of the Ram temple's consecration.

"Permission for his visit before 3 PM is not possible," Jogendra Narayan Dev Mahanta, president of the monastery's management committee said in a letter to Congress MLA (Batadraba), Sibamoni Bora. The committee said the decision was taken in an emergency meeting at 11am on Sunday.

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, while reacting to Congress' announcement, appealed Gandhi not to visit the Vaishnavite monastery saying there can be no competition between Lord Ram and Sankardev, who is revered in Assam as the biggest religious leader, cultural icon and social reformer.

"Why is he visiting the communally sensitive Nagaon and neighbouring Morigaon districts on the day of opening of the Ram temple? Why is he visiting Nellie (in Morigaon) where a riot happened in 1983?" Sarma asked, while talking to reporters in Guwahati on Sunday. Sarma said commandos would be deployed during Gandhi's yatra in the two districts on Monday.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Romesh, who is also part of Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, said itenary of the yatra was decided by the AICC three weeks ago and on January 22, Gandhi was scheduled to be in Nagaon.

"Since Gandhi will be in Nagaon, it was decided that he should visit Batadrava than, the birthplace of Srimanta Sankardev, who is a great religious leader, a social reformer and a cultural icon. He wants to visit the than to pay his obeisance and there should be no dispute regarding this," he said.

The BJP-led government in Assam is developing the Batarava than and seeks to transform it into a tourist attraction, like the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The Sarma government had also carried out evictions around Batadrava last year to clear land from alleged Bangladeshi Muslims. During election campaigns in Assam, BJP tried to project the "immigrant Muslims" as ghuspetias (infiltrators) and an enemy of the indigenous Assamese.  

While Congress leaders stressed that there should be no politics over Gandhi's visit, Vikash Tripathi, a teacher of political science at Gauhati University believe that the former Congress President is trying to display another face of Hinduism in order to counter BJP's brand as a Hindu party ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

"Congress also seems to responding to Hindu civilisation politics in Assam spearheaded by Himanta Biswa Sarma," he said.

Sarma says the consecration of the Ram temple at Ayodhya is not a victory of the Hindus but a triumph of Indian civilization.