Jalandhar: BJP has launched its biggest outreach to Ravidassia community so far by launching the ‘Kalash Yatra’, in which urns carrying soil from Guru Ravidas’s birthplace, Seer Gowardhanpur in Varanasi, are being ta-ken in processions to mark the saint’s 650th birth anniversary. A Kalash carrying the sa-cred soil from Varanasi rea-ched Jalandhar on Saturday and was kept at Guru Ravidas Dham in Buta Mandi. The so-il was on Monday distributed in several urns to be carried to all BJP ‘mandal’ areas. The Kalash Yatra was ta-ken out in four urban and semi-urban assembly constitu-encies of Jalandhar on Mon-day, and was welcomed by the Ravidassia/Ad-dharmi com-munity. The urns were also taken to a few Hindu temples, where the managing commit tees paid obeisance to the sa-cred soil. BJP is projecting the Yatra as part of its ‘samajik samrasta’ (social harmony) campaign. At the same time, new vocabulary, carrying cultural significance, appears to be en-tering the Dalit religious dis-course. For instance, ‘Kalash’ has not been part of the Dalit religious or cultural vocabu-lary in Punjab. In the last few years, BJP netas of Ravidas-sia community have been ma-king it a point to pay obeisance to Dera Sachkhand Ballan head Sant Niranjan Das on Guru Purnima, which was not a usual practice at the Dalit deras earlier. Sant Niranjan Das was present along with Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and BJP national president Nitin Nabin when the Kalash Yatra was started from Varanasi on July 29. Pri-me Minister Narendra Modi had visited Jalandhar’s Dera Ballan, the most influential dera of the Ravidassia / Ad-dharmi community, on Guru Ravidas Jayanti on Feb 1. It was seen as part of BJP’s outreach in the com-munity. Sant Niranjan Das was also given the Padma Shri this year. Dalits make up around a third of Punjab’s po-pulation and the Ravidassia /Ad-dharmi community hap-pens to be the most influenti-al among them socially, economically and politically. The community has largely remained averse to Hindutva politics, leading the narrative of Dalits on this front. The strongest articulation against Hindutva politics also ca-me from the intellectuals, authors and activists from this community.
