Opinion divided on Madhya Pradesh Congress wooing Baba who said India is a Hindu nation

Congress in MP courting spiritual leader Baba Bageshwar for election season. Kamal Nath, MP Congress chief, welcomed Baba Bageshwar to Chhindwara, his bastion, for a 3-day 'katha'. Nath described Baba as "embodiment of spiritual power" & "true power" of India. Leaders from both parties attended, with Congress stressing its "inclusive" Sanatan Dharma. However, some leaders believe votes come from serving people, not preachers. Nath's media advisor said country will only run according to Constitution. Congress has adopted different stances towards preachers in different states.

In election season, the rolling out of the red carpet for Dhirendra Krishna Shastri aka Baba Bageshwar, at Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath’s bastion of Chhindwara has evoked mixed responses within the party. 

On Saturday, the self-styled godman from the State’s Chhatarpur region, arrived in a chartered plane, to hold a ‘katha’ over the next three days until August 7. 

Mr. Nath’s son and Lok Sabha member from Chhindwara, Nakul Nath, the patron of the religious event wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “Welcomed Param Pujya Pandit Dhirendra Krishna Shastri [Shri Bageshwar Dham Sarkar] at Chhindwara airstrip. It is our good fortune that Gurudev touched your feet on the holy land of Chhindwara.” 

Later, both leaders performed rituals at the inaugural event and listened to the katha, with the senior Nath describing Mr. Shastri as “the embodiment of spiritual power” which was India’s “true power”. 

Congress sources said such “warming up” will ensure that Mr. Shastri does not speak against the party in the run-up to the Assembly election. Playing down talk of Congress also pursuing its “own version of Hindutva,” senior leader Ajay Singh ‘Rahul’ — who is the son of former Chief Minister, the late Arjun Singh, and is a former Minister himself — said such events should not be linked to the politics of “Hindutva”.

“We never had the Hindutva agenda of the Congress or the BJP in M.P. Before the BJP even came on the scene [in power that is] in 2003, I had organised the most number of kathas in Bhopal which was duly attended by the top brass of the BJP,” Mr. Singh said.

“Now kathas have become more prominent because they are a kind of status symbol that who is organising whose katha and how many people turn up.,” he added.