Hindutva is set to be back on agenda during BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi rally in Gorakhpur on January 23.

Party MP Yogi Aditynath is supervising the preparations for the rally, for which the main stage, from where Modi will address the gathering stage, will come up in the shape the Gorakhnath temple. “The stage will be given the shape of Gorakhnath temple. Photographs of Guru Gorakshnath, Mahavir Jain, Sant Kabir and Gautam Budhha will form the backdrop of the stage,” Adityanath, who is also the head priest of Gorakhnath temple, told PM-Modi.

Guru Gorakshnath is believed to be an incarnation of lord Shiva and the temple dervies its name from him. A picture of freedom fighter Ram Prasad Bismil will also be put up on the stage. The cultural heritage of Poorvanchal will be displayed through replicas in the rally, Adityanath said. The preparations for the programme have been launched in such way that devotees visiting the temple for Khichdi Mela starting January 14 could also be roped in for the rally. To a query, Adityanath said that BJP had never left the agenda of Hindutva. “Hindutva is symbol of nationalism and carrying it forward is not a crime,” he said, adding that people from all sections of society will take part in the rally.

The rally will be held at Maanbela ground of Gorakhpur Development Authority (GDA). Party is expecting a crowd of 5 lakh people from 13 Lok Sabha constituencies of Gorakhpur region. Party currently has only three MPs in the region, including from Gorakhpur, Azamgarh and Bansgaon. Out of 62 Assembly constituencies of the region, BJP had won only eight in 2012 elections.

Retired career diplomat Hardeep Puri, who served as India's permanent representative at the UN joined BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, following in the footsteps of former Home Secretary RK Singh and Petroleum Secretary RS Pandey.

Puri, a 1974-batch Indian Foreign Service Officer, had put in 39 years of service and held several senior positions in the Ministry of External Affairs and Defence Ministry. He held Ambassadorial assignments in London and Brasilia. In 2011 and 2012, as Permanent Representative at UN in New York, he led the Indian delegation to the Security Council. He also chaired its Counter-Terrorism Committee. Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, with whom Puri enjoys a good relationship, is understood to be instrumental in bringing him into the party.

Former Home Secretary RK Singh had joined the BJP on 13 December along with Sunil Shastri, son of former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, former petroleum secretary RS Pandey and retired Railways official Dharam Singh in presence of BJP president Rajnath Singh. Welcoming Puri in the party fold, Rajnath Singh said, "We look forward to utilising his experience in the areas of Foreign, Security and Trade policies".

Puri said he was delighted to formally join the party which he had long admired for its strong sense of nationalism. He said he looked forward to doing party work and was ready to contribute in whatever manner the party president and BJP's senior leadership asked him to.