Chouhan all set to woo Brahmins with big offers to beat BJP: report
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Bhopal: The Shivraj Singh Chouhan administration in Madhya Pradesh is attempting to beat the BJP to it wooing the state’s 5-6 percent Brahimins, whose support is critical to win certain assembly seats.
Chouhan, months ahead of the assembly elections, is setting up a Welfare Board for the community, alongside planning to develop the Bhagwan Sri Parashurama Lok religious corridor in Indore's Janapav, according to NDTV.
Chouhan in a major reform announced that ‘the government will not have any control over the activities of the temples’, adding that priests will auction temple land, as the government has divested the collectors of the responsibility.
Of the 21,104 temples in the state, 1,320 temples possess more than 10 acres of agricultural land, according to the report.
Priests attached to the temples with no agricultural lands are paid an honorarium of ₹ 5,000 a month.
Chouhan administration’s frantic move to woo Brahmins has to do with Prime Minister Modi’s recent visit to the state’s Rewa region where upper castes form most of the population.
Brahminis make up more than 40 percent of population in some assembly seats of Satna and Rewa districts.
After the BJP won 24 of the 30 seats in Vidhya region, the Congress saw major dip in its majority having won only just 11 seats in the area.
Alongside emergence of Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party in the region, posing threat to both BJP and the Congress, winning urban civic polls in Rewa and Singrauli, made the place top priority for both parties.