Lok Sabha election: Rahul’s Thirunelli visit has political & emotional connect

THIRUNELLI: When Rahul Gandhi begins his second visit to

Wayanad

constituency on Wednesday morning by offering prayers at the over-a-millennium-old Thirunelli temple, where the

ashes

of his late father Rajiv Gandhi was ritualistically immersed in a stream, what will be unmissable will be its political symbolism as well.

Rahul’s visit to the ancient Thirunelli temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu would see him offer ‘bali tharpanam’ (ritual paying homage to the soul of his departed father) on the banks of the holy stream of Papanashini. What would also accentuate the symbolic significance of the visit is that Thirunelli is known by the name ‘Kashi of South’, a perfect metaphorical counterbalance to the sacred antiquity of Modi’s constituency Kashi (Varanasi).

The temple visit would also in a way help counter the accusation by Modi that Rahul has fled to Wayanad from North India out of ‘fear of Hindu anger’.

Like Varanasi, Thirunelli also draws tens of thousands of devout Hindus every year to perform ‘bali’ (rites paying obeisance for the departed souls).