Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi began his fifth day of the ongoing ‘Kisan Yatra’ across the Uttar Pradesh with a visit to Ayodhya, becoming the first member of his family to visit the town since the Babri Masjid’s demolition in 1992.

Political observers see a soft Hindutva agenda in the Ayodhya visit at a time when the Congress appears to follow a Brahmin-centric campaign for upcoming assembly elections in the Uttar Pradesh, prescribed by the strategist Prashant Kishor, who is designing every move of the Congress scion.

The former prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi had planned to visit this temple, 26 years ago during his visit to the religious town in 1990. Rajiv Gandhi could not visit the Hanumangarhi temple for the paucity of time.

Rahul Gandhi's visit to the temple is aimed to shake off the anti-Hindutva tag associated with the party. Rahul Gandhi arrived in Ayodha as part of the 'Kisan Mahayatra' ahead of Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections. This is the first visit by a Gandhi family member since 1992 Babri Masjid demolition.

BJP spokesperson Siddhartha Nath Singh said, "His party (Congress) always accused BJP of playing politics whenever we talked about Ram temple or about going there. Rahul has understood the power of Ram."

By Premji