Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday started a two-day visit to Andhra Pradesh and Kerala — his second dash to the south in a fortnight — indicating a determined push to make inroads into a region that has so far remained untouched by the saffron sweep.
Modi started with visiting the Veerbhadra temple in Andhra Pradesh’s Lepakshi in a bid to connect the south with the Ram temple in Ayodhya, which he is scheduled to inaugurate on January 22.
According to the mythology, Lepakshi is believed to be the place where Jatayu — the giant eagle — fell down after having been grievously wounded by Ravan, who was abducting Sita. Modi referred to this in his speech.
“Over the next two days, I will be among the people of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Today, 16th January, I will have the opportunity to pray at the Veerbhadra Temple, Lepakshi. I will also hear verses from the Ranganatha Ramayan, which is in Telugu,” Modi said in a post on X on Tuesday morning.
“For all those who are devotees of Prabhu Shri Ram, Lepakshi holds great significance,” he posted after the temple visit, adding that he prayed that the people of India be happy and healthy and scale new heights of prosperity.
After the “spiritual journey”, Modi returned to official work and inaugurated the new campus of the National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes and Narcotics, but here too he invoked Ram extensively. “Pura desh Ram-may ho gaya hai. Ram ke bhakti mein sarabor ho gaya hai (The entire country is immersed in the
devotion of Ram),” he said in his speech after the inauguration.
Modi referred to his temple visit earlier in the day, quoted extensively from the Ramayana, recalled how Mahatma Gandhi had talked about Ram Rajya, stressing that it meant “good governance”, and claimed his government was following it. He urged customs and narcotics officers to take inspiration from Ram in the discharge of their duties.
The visit comes amid speculation that Modi might contest from a southern constituency to push the BJP’s expansion plans in the region and prove that his popularity cuts through the north-south divide.
Modi had started election year with a two-day visit (January 2-3) to Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Lakshadweep, seeking to woo the people with the “sacred Sengol” installed by him in the new Parliament building.
Modi reached Kerala in the evening, again with the religion and development package. “On the 17th, I will pray at the Guruvayur Temple, Thriprayar Shree Ramaswami Temple and address a public meeting in Kochi where key projects will be inaugurated,” he posted on X about his Kerala visit.
Modi has started visiting prominent temples across the country since last week, when he claimed to have started an 11-day “special observance” as prescribed in religious scriptures to “awaken divine consciousness”, preceding the consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22. He visited Kala Ram Mandir in Nashik last week and heard verses relating to Ram.
The political objective behind all these appears to be a well-thought-out effort to use the consecration of the Ram temple to connect different parts of the country with the ruling party’s core Hindutva ideology. BJP leaders said with sections of the Opposition slamming Sanatan Dharma, Modi was trying to assert that “Sanatan runs through every part of the country from north to south, east to west”.
Apart from the temple visits and official events in Kerala on Wednesday, Modi is scheduled to hold a roadshow and interact with the BJP’s polling booth-level cadres, aiming to make an electoral foray in the southern state.
The BJP, despite a strong RSS network, has not been able to win a Lok Sabha seat in Kerala. Party leaders said that Modi is determined this time that the party opens its account in the state.
Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are also on Modi’s radar. While in Tamil Nadu, there’s speculation that Modi himself might contest from a seat in the state in addition to Varanasi, the party is exploring alliances in Andhra to open its account.
Barring Karnataka and to some extent in Telangana (BJP won 4 Lok Sabha seats in 2019), the BJP doesn’t have a foothold in any of the southern states.
