Paripoornananda joins BJP, ahead of Telangana elections

Swami Paripoornananda, a Hindu monk from Telangana, who was externed for six months on the charge of making provocative speeches, on Thursday joined the BJP ahead of Assembly election in the state on December 7.

While Paripoornananda, founder of Hindu Vahini, said he had joined the party as a “Karmayogi”, BJP chief Amit Shah welcomed him saying his joining will infuse new energy into the party and “boost its election prospects in Telangana”.

Shah, flanked by Paripoornananda and party general secretary Ram Madhav, eulogised the monk for his contribution to social and religious activities in South India and expressed confidence that his presence in BJP will help strengthen it, more so in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Paripoornananda joined the party at the residence of Shah here.

Paripoornananda, who is also the head of Sree Peetam, will in all probability contest the upcoming Telangana assembly elections in which BJP is hoping to make its presence felt in urban areas after the shrinking of Congress in the TRS-ruled state.

On October 7, RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad swept the students’ union poll in Hyderabad University, wresting all the key posts after a gap of eight years.

Just two years back in 2016, United Front for Social Justice, a collective of student outfits led by Ambedkar Students Association and SFI, had won all the seats, following PhD scholar and Dalit student Rohith Vemula's suicide, for which the Opposition tried to paint the BJP as anti-Dalit.

Hindutva pitch

The Telangana assembly has 119 seats. In 2014 assembly polls, BJP had contested in alliance with TDP and they had won five and 15 seats respectively. TDP is now out of BJP and is part of Opposition alliance of Congress, CPI and Telangana Jana Samiti.

BJP believes that its victory in another Left citadel as Hyderabad University is a sign of changing ideological orientation and the aggressive Hindutva pitch of Paripoornananda can help it consolidate its constituency.

Paripoornananda was externed by Hyderabad city police in July for six months for allegedly making provocative speeches but in August, the Hyderabad High Court had suspended the externment orders.

Though Paripoornananda said he would work as a ‘sevak’ of the BJP, the party has already decided to use him for campaigning in Telangana.

Paripoornananda has been close to the BJP for quite some time and is also the author of “Third Eye”, a book on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He is a strong votary of building a Ram temple in Ayodhya and his induction into the BJP is timely as the entire Sangh Parivar is building up momentum for Ram temple.