Battle For Women Votes Sharpens With “Shakti”: Rahul Provokes, Modi Declares War

It was a political storm that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi provoked little realising that it could risk hurting Hindu sentiments. His flippant use of “Shakti”– an evolved stream of worship in sanatana dharma — at a political platform where DMK leaders, who are not sympathetic to the Hindu cause, were present came as a political surprise. It was precisely for this reason that SP leader Akhilesh Yadav, who comes from the Ram Mandir belt, kept away from this “anti-sanatana dharma” forum in Mumbai– he didn’t want to be seen sharing space with “anti- Hindu” Tamil leaders like MK Stalin or VCK leader. Looks like Rahul imagined he could attack Hinduism, and get away with his word play on “shakti”. What he did not realise was that an alert BJP team would pick every word he had uttered against Hindus. The interaction with a Christian pastor in Kanyakumari during his Bharat Jodo Yatra and deprecatory references to Hinduism made two years ago was one such gem .The pastor is heard telling Rahul,”Jesus is the real god, not Shakti” in the clip. It came in handy as PM Modi lambasted Rahul as a person who had scant respect for sanatan dharma. From Jagtial in Telangana to Shimoga in Karnataka, Modi tore into Rahul’s remarks at his rallies and personalised his fight against Shakti. “For me, every daughter, mother, and sister is a personification of Shakti. To those who are raising their voices against Shakti, I accept your challenge. I am willing to sacrifice my life for Shakti,” he added.  Modi, who clearly reached out to 49 % women voters through a series of governance steps, has now sharpened the battle for their attention with “shakti”.