Digvijaya resorts to 'Gandhigiri' of different kind

Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh has found a new way to show his devotion to Mahatma Gandhi and spread his teachings, but the BJP is not impressed and termed it as a "hypocrisy".

Of late, Singh has been making a special request to organisations or people inviting him as the chief guest - to ensure recital of Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram...", a devotional song popularised by Gandhi, in the beginning of a programme.

The request for this devotional song, part of a set of instructions, is being mentioned explicitly in statements being issued by the office of Singh, a Rajya Sabha MP.

Under this, organisers are being requested to "arrange for the singing of Gandhi jis favourite bhajan 'Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram' at the beginning of the programme".

"If singers are not available, download the said song from YouTube and play it," according to instructions from Singh's office.

The organisers are also being told in the official release by Singh's office that after listening to this bhajan, the audience will observe silence for one minute and remember their deity or any great man.

Another request says only one person will welcome the former chief minister during an event and instead of garlands of flowers or bouquets, a cotton garland can be used, given Gandhi's stress on use of khadi.

In addition, the Congress leader would not sit on the stage during the programme and come on the dais only when he is called to speak, according to another directive from his office.

Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) secretary Suveg Rathi on Thursday confirmed that these requests have been issued by Singh's office.

Rathi said, "These requests have been issued in view of Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary this year. The aim of these requests is to spread Bapu's thoughts.

The BJP, however, termed this exercise as "hypocrisy".

State BJP spokesman Umesh Sharma said, "Congress governments have named many roads across India after Mahatma Gandhi, but Congress leaders have never followed the path shown by Bapu."