UP Election: Kashi Vishwanath project takes pivotal role in BJP’s campaign
Guwahati: The Bharatiya Janata Party is using the renovated, multi-crore Kashi Vishwanath Corridor project in election-bound Uttar Pradesh as an example of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ability to combine ideological demands with modern expectations.
According to reports, the party’s campaign would also highlight Varanasi’s rebuilding effort as a “development model” that may be duplicated across India.
“Through the mandir model, the PM has demonstrated that ideological commitments and growth can coexist,” said a senior party leader participating in the electioneering process in the country’s most populous and politically significant state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who represents Varanasi in the Lok Sabha, inaugurated the renovated corridor on December 13 for a cost of 339 crore.
However, the corridor that connects the Ganges Ghats to the sanctum sanctorum of the Kashi Vishwanath temple was created to make pilgrims’ journeys easier, as they formerly had to cross packed and unsanitary alleys. Despite the slowdowns imposed by the Covid epidemic, the project’s foundation stone was placed in 2019 and work was completed in record time. People whose homes and property along the route were bought for the development project fought the relocation at first, causing the project to hit snags.