Rahul treks 14 km to Vaishno Devi: A look at some of his other temple visits

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who arrived in Jammu on Thursday for a two-day visit, paid obeisance at the Mata Vaishnodevi temple after undertaking a 14-km foot journey to reach the cave shrine atop the Trikuta hills in Reasi district. In videos, the Congress MP was seen walking briskly alongside pilgrims on the 14-km stretch leading to the shrine, surrounded by security personnel.

माता वैष्णो देवी का आशीर्वाद लेने के लिए @RahulGandhi जी श्रद्धालुओं के साथ माँ के दरबार की तरफ आगे बढ़ते हुए।#RahulVaishnoDeviYatra pic.twitter.com/56CqsqOOGK

— Congress (@INCIndia) September 9, 2021

“I have come here to offer prayers to the Mata (mother goddess). I don’t want to make any political comments here,” Rahul told reporters who chased him to the shrine. The media was not allowed to take their cameras. Gandhi was given a rousing reception at the Jammu airport on his arrival earlier in the day and Congress members, including top leaders, welcomed him with beats of dholaks. The Congress leader paid obeisance at the Mata Vaishnodevi temple in the evening, the party’s Jammu and Kashmir chief Ghulam Ahmad Mir said. This is not the first time that Rahul has visited a temple. During the campaign for the 2017 Gujarat elections, Rahul went on a run of 14 temple visits. He began his campaigning in the western state with a visit to the famous Akshardham temple. [caption id=“attachment_9952011” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visiting the famous Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar in November 2017. PTI[/caption] The BJP criticised the move, saying, “Why is Rahul Gandhi only visiting temples ahead of elections. People know their intentions that they want to get votes by such gimmicks. They have no inclination of devotion as during Rahul Gandhi’s earlier visits he never visited any temple,” Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said. The Congress leader continued his ’temple strategy’ in Karnataka for the 2018 elections. He visited the Huligamma temple in Koppal district, the Gavisiddeshwara Mutt, an important place of worship for the Lingayats, and the Khwaja Bande Nawaz Dargah in the district of Gulbarga. [caption id=“attachment_9952031” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Rahul Gandhi being welcomed at the Gavi Siddeshwara Mutt in Karnataka’s Koppal district. Image Courtesy: @IYC/Twitter[/caption] In 2018, pushing his ‘Shiv-bhakt’ image, Rahul also visited the Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain, ahead of the state polls. [caption id=“attachment_9952041” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Rahul Gandhi at the Mahakaleshwar temple during his tour of the Malwa-Nimar region in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. PTI[/caption] The Ujjain temple holds significance to the Gandhi family; Rahul’s grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, his father Rajiv Gandhi and mother Sonia Gandhi too had visited the temple in 1979, 1987 and 2008, respectively pay their obeisance to Lord Shiva. Rahul has kept up his visits to temples. As recently as 10 August 2021, he visited the Kheer Bhawani temple in the Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir and the Hazratbal shrine. [caption id=“attachment_9952051” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Rahul Gandhi offers prayers at the Kheer Bhawani temple in Jammu-Kashmir. PTI[/caption] According to Congress leaders, Rahul’s visit was a private one, as he wanted to pay obeisance at the temple. His temple visit, however, was criticised by the BJP. Ravinder Raina had said, “Rahul Gandhi and his family remained mute spectators on the plight of Kashmiri Pandits for the last three decades, and now he felt the need to reach out to the Pandit community.” Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor has backed Rahul’s visits to temples, contending that they come in a context where the BJP is saying that they are the “good Hindus” and everybody else is bad. “Why should we cede this narrative to them? To my mind, we may as well show publicly what we have been doing privately.” With inputs from agencies