Varanasi will host a month-long cultural exercise following the inauguration of the "Kashi Vishwanath Dham" (Kashi Vishwanath corridor) by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 13, and all BJP chief ministers and deputy CMs will attend the ceremony which will be broadcast live from over 51,000 places nationwide, the party said on Tuesday. Lauding Modi as a hero of Indian culture for fulfilling his resolve to transform the holy city, BJP general secretary Tarun Chugh said in a press briefing that it was almost after 250 years that a renovation and beautification exercise around the famous Kashi Vishwanath temple has been done.
The mega cultural outreach exercise assumes extra significance as the BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh is headed for assembly polls early next year, and the party's work on its Hindutva agenda, including ongoing construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, is a major component of its campaign besides development works undertaken by its governments at the Centre and the state. The inauguration ceremony has been named "Divya Kashi, Bhavya Kashi" (divine Kashi, grand Kashi).
In Varanasi the BJP will also hold a conference of its chief ministers and deputy chief ministers on December 13 and 14 where they will deliberate on their governments' welfare agenda and how to further help people, Chugh said, adding that they will leave on December 15. "To make this once-in-a-lifetime historical and unprecedented event, BJP president J P Nadda has planned several events at the party-level. For one month, starting on December 13, 2021 and till January 14, 2022 (Makar Sankranti), various programmes and events will be organised across the country," Chugh, who was joined by Union minister G Kishan Reddy, said.
A conference of mayors from across the country is also scheduled for December 17 followed by a congregation of experts and farmers working on organic and progressive farming. Chugh said the city will host a variety of programmes with an emphasis on highlighting its culture and heritage for a month till January 14.
Over 3,000 seers, figures associated with different religious maths, artistes and other noted people will assemble at the venue on December 13 to witness the inauguration. The BJP will install LEDs at all major Shiva temple and ashrams in all its mandal units to show the programme live, he said.
In the run-up to the exercise, the BJP has asked its members to undertake cleanliness exercise in various temples and holy places on December 10-11 while "prabhat pheri" will be carried out on December 9. State units of the party will be giving details of their programme in the days ahead, Chugh said.
The BJP will also organise a youth meeting in Varanasi on January 12, birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. Reddy, who is Union culture and tourism minister, said the renovation work has been undertaken with utmost care with no changes being made to the original structure of the Kashi Vishwanath temple.
The scale of the renovation work Modi, who represents the city in Lok Sabha, has brought about there is very visible, he said. BJP president Nadda has prepared an extensive exercise to ensure that people across the country can watch the month-long programmes, he said.
Party sources said its MPs, who have been asked to remain in Delhi as Parliament's winter session is underway, may watch together the inauguration live from the national capital. Built over a sprawling area of 5,000 hectares, the corridor has decongested the temple complex, which was earlier surrounded by buildings on three sides, officials have said, noting that the project will connect the two things Varanasi is well known for: Kashi Vishwanath temple and Ganga river.
Modi had laid the foundation of the corridor in March 2019. Over 300 buildings were purchased and demolished to create the space for the project. The Uttar Pradesh government constituted the board to expedite the work on it. Officials said the idea is to preserve existing heritage structures, provide new facilities in the temple complex in the public-private partnership mode, ease the traffic and movement of people around the temple and connect the temple with ghats with direct visibility. Hundreds of small temples have been made a part of the corridor.
The project ensures easy pedestrian movement for pilgrims and comfortable holding zones, as well as crowd management and emergency operational procedures and better experiences around the religious rituals.
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