Vedic chants rose above the sound of devotional songs as saffron-clad sadhus marched through the ancient city of Ujjain. Religious slogans filled the air as devotees gathered for rituals involving the construction and worship of hundreds of clay Shiva lingams. Bhajans and aarti set the tone for a journey led not by a BJP leader, but by Congress veteran and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh.

Singh, 79, launched his Satya Sanatan Swabhiman Yatra last week amid an elaborate display of religious fervour, insisting that the 930-km padayatra was not a political exercise. However the yatra’s route and a political context suggest otherwise.

Beginning in the BJP stronghold of Ujjain, the nearly 70-day-long yatra will pass through Madhya Pradesh and culminate in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya, home to the Ram temple.

In MP, the route runs through Ujjain, Tarana, Shajapur, Sarangpur, Rajgarh, Chachoura, Ashoknagar and Chanderi before reaching Orchha.…