Mangaluru: Having lost its hold over the coastal districts of the state to the BJP, the Congress is now doing all it can including opting for soft Hindutva practices to regain it with the elections to the state assembly only months away.
While Hindu outfits have been regularly organising various religious events like Samuhika Satyanarayana Pooje, and Samoohika Kumkumarchane, to appeal to the people here, the Congress is now trying to use similar tactics to reach out to Hindu women, who outnumber men among the voters on the coast.
It has been organising a 'Arasina Kumkuma,' programme, under which its Mahila Morcha leaders visit homes of Hindu women to hand over turmeric and kumkuma to them. While it has expectedly drawn criticism for using a Hindu tradition to win over voters, an unfazed Congress launched the programme during the recent Navaratri festival, hoping it will help it win back its lost support among the people here, who seem to have a partiality for the saffron outfits at present.
"Our Mahila Morcha has succeeded in reaching out to women of other religions, but our reach is poor among Hindu women. We cannot ignore them as the BJP will otherwise get to them. We all know that most women are the deciding factor in families and so we are doing everything we can to appeal to them," said a senior Congress leader, admitting that the party’s support base among Hindu women was poor and it badly needed to increase it.
Defending the 'Arasina Kumkuma,' programme, he claimed it was “religious” and not communal. “By holding such programmes we want to tell people that our party is truly secular and wants to take all communities with it," he contended.
