The Narmada Parikrama yatra by senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh and his wife Amrita Singh is getting a lukewarm response from public. He had declared that it is his "personal religious pilgrimage, and has nothing to do with politics".
The six-month, 3300 kilometres long religious journey started three days back on Dussera, September 30, from Barman Ghat on the bank of river Narmada. The Narmada Parikrama is undertaken by millions of Hindu pilgrims every year by walking the entire length of the river from Amarkantak Hills in Madhya Pradesh to Gulf of Khambat in Arabian Sea.
Digvijaya Singh, 70, accompanied by his wife, former journalist Amrita Singh, 46, started the journey after day long puja conducted by Shankaracharya Swaroopanand Saraswati of Dwarka Peeth. Shankaracharya’s ashram is located in Narsinghpur district from where the yatra started.
On the first day of the yatra Congress leaders Suresh Pachouri and Vivek Tanka, along with 60 other companions, were present. But in the next two days, the number dwindled as the couple walked for around twenty kilometres in the rough stretch on the grassy and shrubs laden banks. Congress state president Arun Yadav and senior leader Kamalnath and Jyotiraditya Scindia were conspicuous in their absence on the inaugural day of the yatra.
Son of Digvijaya Singh, MLA from Raghogarh, briefly attended the religious function before puja and left. Lakshman Singh, brother of Digvijaya Singh, former member of parliament from Rajgarh, is yet to attend. Except for a group of few dozen people very close to the former chief minister, most of the Congressmen are keeping a distance from the yatra.
Digvijaya Singh had said that his yatra is purely personal and has nothing to do with politics. But his comments on "sand mafia’s presence across the banks of Narmada’’ and village sarpanches angry over the expense from their funds for Namami Narmade Yatra has led to many to conclude that his objective is political. Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, had held a state sponsored Namami Narmade Yatra.
The yatra of Digvijaya Singh is likely to be completed by foot and on vehicles to complete it in the stipulated period of six months. They will reach Gujarat next month. Assembly polls are due in Gujarat in the coming days and the presence of Congress leader, though he is officially on leave from the AICC from post of general secretary, will sure make some noise.
CM Shivraj Singh, meanwhile, welcomed Digvijaya Singh's decision. This move is seen as a ploy to keep presenting Digvijaya Singh as a prominent leader of Congress in political circles.
Meanwhile, Congress is also worried that with the yatra it has suddenly brought back Digvijaya to focus in the state. Earlier, Digvijaya Singh had written a letter to the state government demanding mobile toilets so that the banks of the river are not polluted by the pilgrims walking along with him. A separate set of personal entourage, full of tents and other amenities, is moving with the former chief minister.
