He's hot off the campaign trail in Karnataka and today the Prime Minister was in Nepal. In the historical town of Janakpur, he launched the Ramayana circuit connecting the two mythologically important towns via a bus. It's not the first time that the soft power of the Ramayana has been projected in our cultural diplomacy, we saw it in November with a musical of Ramayana at the ASEAN meeting, then again when the ASEAN nations came here in January for our republic day and the political symbolism is not far behind. Just days ago Rahul was in Karnataka visiting temples and vowing to go to Kailash Mansarovar after the polls closed. The BJP which has been on it's own temple run while scoffing at Rahul's attempts has been wielding it's ram Rajya mascot. Yogi Adityanath in campaign trails across the country, including karnataka. Analysts attach all sort of soubriquets to this, from soft Hindutva to ram rajya politics. So what is all this symbolism in aide of? Why not use Indian epics as the root of our politics and cultural diplomacy? Why are the symbolism of temple visits, within and without the country, so important in our political framework. what does the Ramayana circuit mean for the subcontinent building a new India, on the eve of when all these theories and philosophies will be put to the test of the vote in Karnataka ?
