Rajan Mahan, Arun Harsh/NDTV

Jodhpur, Jul 14: In the latest effort to project Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje as the next Hindu goddess, a priest in Jodhpur plans to build a temple with an idol of the minister inside.

In 2007, a calendar depicting Raje as a goddess had led to a feud within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and senior party leader Jaswant Singh's wife had taken the issue to court, claiming that equating Raje with a deity offended people's religious sentiments.

First she was Maa Annapurna and now, Vasundhara Raje will be Maa Kalyani.

It is a new effort to elevate Raje from royalty to divinity.

However, the RSS is far from amused at the bizarre proportions that sycophancy is acquiring in Rajasthan.

Her fawning admirers are now keen to give Vasundhara Raje a divine status. They plan to build a grand temple for her in Jodhpur's Beru village where a five feet tall marble idol of Raje will be installed. By building the temple, her admirers hope to turn the mortal Raje into an immortal deity.

''She has taken care of Rajasthan like Mother Earth herself. I want that the work done by her should remain in people's memory forever. That is why I want to build a temple for Vasundhara Raje,'' says temple priest Hemant Bore.

However, it isn't the first time that sycophants have deified Raje. In 2007, when a special calendar was created where Raje was depicted as Goddess Laksmi, one of her ministers admitted to worshipping Raje as Goddess Durga. Earlier, a Vasundhara Chaleesa was also written to please the Chief Minister. But the RSS is offended by these attempts to create a personality cult.

''It is not right to make a temple for a human being. Sycophancy has now become so all pervasive that it is tough to say anything. But no sensible person can accept this move,'' says RSS Rajasthan spokesperson Kanhaiya Lal Chaturvedi.

In her four-year rule, Raje's devotion to the almighty has been widely publicised. Whether Raje agrees with those deifying her is unclear but it is clear that the cult of sycophancy is set to escalate in this election year in Rajasthan.