BJP commercialising Gods: Congress

Mumbai: In a scathing attack, the Congress has accused the BJP-led Maha Yuti of commercialising Gods, deities and great leaders and playing the game of “corporate Hindutva” by trading self-respect, culture and identity.

The attack comes in the wake of the name of Mumbai Metro Rail stations with corporate branding. 

“The BJP and the RSS have, for years, misused religion, national identity and hollow nationalism for political power. Their version of Hindutva thrives on hatred and division, they are cooking their politics of power on the stove of religious intolerance. Now, the BJP has gone further it has opened a market for gods, deities and icons, trading the pride and identity of the people in the name of corporate Hindutva,” Congress party’s senior spokesperson Sachin Sawant said. 

“The BJP’s Hindutva has now become completely corporate. In their greed for money, they have insulted our gods, revered deities and national icons who contributed immensely to this country. The station named Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus has now been renamed Kotak Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. Siddhivinayak station has become ICICI Lombard Siddhivinayak, Mahalaxmi is HDFC Life Mahalaxmi, and Acharya Atre station has been branded as Nippon India MF Acharya Atre. This is a shameful game played with our identity and emotions,” added Sawant. 

The Congress demanded an explanation from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde, who is the Urban Development Minister and Ajit Pawar, who is the Finance Minister about what he described as “gross insult”.

“Those who do politics in the name of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj must answer — how can they allow the prefix ‘Kotak’ before the name of our revered king? The Congress party and the self-respecting people of Maharashtra will never tolerate such desecration of our icons,” he warned.

Sawant further said that the BJP since last 11 years has been deliberately diverting public attention from burning issues such as farmers’ distress, unemployment, inflation, and women’s safety by indulging in the politics of renaming and identity.

“They renamed Allahabad as Prayagraj, Faizabad as Ayodhya, Rajpath as Kartavya Path, and Racecourse Road as Lok Kalyan Marg — also their allergy to names like Nehru and Gandhi continues. They removed Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s name from Nehru Science Centre and Sanjay Gandhi’s name from Sanjay Gandhi National Park Station. These names are part of our national and public heritage — and the BJP has shamelessly put them up for sale. They have turned our pride, faith, and history into a marketplace.” 

Sawant noted that ones left are Kalbadevi and Sheetaladevi stations — and soon this government may go begging before corporates to auction those names as well.

“After selling airports, ports, public sector undertakings and government land to corporate houses, now even gods and great leaders are being commercialised,” he said. 

Concluding his statement, Sawant said: “By selling the names of temples and deities, the BJP has exposed the hypocrisy of its so-called ‘Sanatan’ Hindutva. For power, they exploit identity; but once in power, they surrender that very identity at the feet of corporates. The BJP has poured water over religion, pride, and culture — all for corporate interests. This is not Hindutva — this is Corporate Hindutva, and Maharashtra will resist it with full strength.”