It’s not Mickey Mouse but Lord Krishna which has fired the saffron imagination — on building a “Disneyland-type” theme park in Uttar Pradesh’s nucleus of “brajbhoomi” (land where Krishna was born), Mathura and where he frolicked with the gopis, Vrindavan.
For the lotus brigade these cities will be the country’s “Adhyatmik Disneyland”, said the BJP manifesto for the UP elections, released on Friday. The BJP, which has also revived the Ram Mandir issue, wants to keep religion as one of its major planks to consolidate its Hindu hardliner votebank.
Mathura being where Krishna grew to manhood, paintings and sculptures will be put up “to depict his journey from the prison of his maternal uncle Kansa to Brajbhoomi”. Temple staff and devotees will also move around dressed as Krishna, his elder brother Balram and his cowhered friends. Similar images will be put up at Vrindavan.
Seeking divine help to win in UP, the BJP manifesto also promises to create a “teerthatan mantralaya” (ministry for pilgrimage). And that’s not all. An airport is also promised at Ayodhya, Lord Ram’s birthplace, and Chitrakoot, abode of Ram, wife Sita and brother Lakshman during their 11-year exile. The BJP also promises that it will provide Haj-type subsidies for pilgrims headed for Mansarovar.