Kamal Ghorui
New Delhi: PM Narendra Modi will Sunday rename the Adampur airport after the saint Ravidas, a revered figure especially among dalits, and visit Dera Sachkhand Ballan, the headquarters of the Ravidassia community, as part of continuing outreach to his followers present in big numbers not only in Punjab but in several other states.Modi’s decision to time the renaming of the facility as “Sri Guru Ravidas Ji Airport” – demand for which was being made for a long time – with the saint’s 649th birth anniversary and associating himself with the event and scheduling a visit to the dera underlines his emphasis on cultivating a community which is important to BJP in terms of not only its politics but also its larger cultural agenda.He has in the past years launched projects for the development of the birthplace of Ravidas, a Bhakti movement poet-saint born in Varanasi, which is Modi’s parliamentary constituency, for building his memorial in Sagar in MP and visited Ravidas temples to pay tributes.During his visit, Modi will attend a public programme and interact with Niranjan Dass, the dera’s spiritual head, who was awarded a Padma Shri this Republic Day eve.The dera is based in Jalandhar, a part of Doaba region where the concentration of SCs is higher than the rest of the state. While Dalits account for nearly 32% of the population in Punjab, more than any other state, they are nearly 42% in Doaba.Dalits in Punjab are divided in several subgroups, Raviadassia community, which comprises 10-12% of the population, is one of the bigger ones and Ravidas is a respected figure among SCs. Reaching out to the members of disadvantaged castes has been a part of BJP’s drive, for its agenda of Hindu cohesion and has helped the party’s growth. Punjab assembly polls are due in the first quarter of next year. Since AAP’s meteoric rise and the break in BJP and Akali ties, four parties, including Congress, are in contest over the state’s political sweepstakes.
