Bhopal: Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s temple visits would continue in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh as he is next slated to seek blessings at the noted Pitambara Peeth during his two-day visit to Gwalior-Chambal region next week.
He is scheduled to visit the Datia temple—one of the 51 Shakti Peethas—on October 15, the sixth day of Navratri.
According to the legend, goddess Pitambara is known to help her devotees destroy enemies. The temple, itself, is famous for devotees thronging it to seek blessings for power.
Priests in this temple even claim that the Chinese attack on India in 1962 had only ceased after a yagna (religious ritual) was performed at the request of the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Similar rituals were performed during Indo-Pak wars in 1965 and 1971 and during the Kargil war in 2000, locals say.
Former President of India Pranab Mukherjee, ex-PMs Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former deputy PM LK Advani, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, ex-Army chief VK Singh, MNS chief Raj Thackrey, film actor Sanjay Dutt and other dignitaries have visited this temple in the past.
Besides visiting the temple in Datia, Rahul would also hold a public meeting at Debra on October 15. The next day he would be addressing public meetings at Sabalgarh and Sheopur district.
Rahul had bared his poll strategy for MP on September 17 with the launch of Congress’ campaign amidst chanting of mantras by priests and kanya pujan in Bhopal.
Later, he had sought blessings at Kamtanath temple in Chitrakoot and performed Narmada aarti on the banks of the sacred river in Jabalpur on Oct 6.
When the Congress chief visits the Indore-Ujjain region on October 25-26, he is expected to pay a visit to the Mahakal temple.
During his future visits to the state, he would seek blessings at Pashupatinath temple in Mandsaur and Omkareshwar, one of the 12 Jyotirlingas in the country.
In the past, Rahul had made similar visits to temples during Karnataka and Gujarat assembly polls.
Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah had also visited the Mahakal temple in July after he kicked start the Privartan Yatra, and stopped at Pitambara Peeth during the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is also known to visit the Mahakal temple and Bijasan Mata temple in Salkanpur in his hometown Sehore and Ganesh temple in Vidisha regularly.
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