When Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the grand corridor to the Kashi Viswanath temple on December 13, nostalgic memories swept over me. The earliest, from my childhood in the mid-1950s, is of an enterprising Vadyar — a Sri Vaishnava priest — who organised an annual pilgrimage tour by hiring a bus, complete with provisions, cooks and utensils, to visit the holiest of the holy temples of India, from Tirupati to Kashi and Badrinath in the Himalayas. He arranged night halts in Dharmshalas, was fluent in Sanskrit and Hindi, knew the rules of these temples, was well-versed in the Puranas and scriptures and enthralled the pilgrims with legends and lore associated with the deities and the mythic rivers over the 45 days of the tour. The Kashi Viswanath darshan and Ganga ‘snan’ were the high point of the tour. It dawned on me very early the inscrutable hold it had and the centrality of Kashi and Ganga on the lives, sentiments and imagination of Hindus, especially his perennial stream of Brahmin pilgrims.
Later, in my 20s, when I first boarded an Indian Airlines flight, the notes of Shehnai that wafted through the plane as I entered the cabin captivated me, and it has remained a haunting melody since. And that lilting soul-seeping tune by Ustaad Bismillah Khan is, to me, inextricably linked to the Kashi Viswanath temple. The words of the Ustaad, a devout Muslim who said that his music was a gift from Lord Vishwanath, still resonate in my mind.
The third imagery associated with the Ganga is from the heart-stirring song of Ganga beheti hi kyon by Bhupen Hazarika. Bhupen laments, “On your mighty banks, that are home to countless people, despite hearing their anguished cries, O Ganga, how do you — how can you — flow so meekly, silently and unmindfully.” He beseeches: “Morality is destroyed and humanity is corrupted, yet shamelessly, why do you flow? ...O stream of Ganga, yet why do you not turn weak into strong warriors? O Ganga, why do you keep silent?”
The song was poignant, and made you wonder, what was the point of all this worship, this ‘holy dip’, this seeking of personal salvation, if it did not cleanse and uplift our society and polity collectively.
The glittering inauguration of the Kashi corridor by Modi elicited responses from many quarters on expected lines. Those from the BJP were mesmerised by the grandeur of the ceremony. The believing Hindus were moved to tears of ecstasy by the Vedic chants from the high priests. The intellectuals felt it was gross theatrical extravaganza and the height of narcissism of one man who turned the deeply pious ceremony into a marketing event, divesting it of its religious significance. Politicians were stunned by the sheer audacity of the Prime Minister, who strode through as if he were an emperor. They accused him of using religion for politics with an eye on the forthcoming UP elections.
Some asked if he should not have made the occasion a national event by inviting the opposition parties and the heads of all religions, thereby mirroring to the world the all-embracing ethos of Hinduism. Was that not the resounding message of Swami Vivekananda when he addressed the Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893, where he said, “I am proud to belong to a religion that has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance...We accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth.”
By turning the ceremonials into a Hindu hegemonic celebration, did it diminish a great religion and its universal appeal, which has drawn people from around the world over millennia for its spirit of enquiry, its quest for truth, that sees the Creator in everything, into a parochial revelry? Power is the mistress of all politicians. Opposition politicians wear secularism on their sleeves, BJP politicians wear Hindutva on their robes, one to appease the minorities, the other to appease the majority community, to gain power. How are they any different? When BJP paints the Opposition as ‘anti-Hindu’, they panic and start visiting Hindu temples or reciting holy chants to stop alienating Hindus. They are falling into the trap laid by the BJP. They cannot win that communal contest. Their hypocrisy and want of convictions show easily. No one knows what they stand for. At least, people know what the BJP represents.
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Rahul Gandhi’s recent religious polemic against the Hindutva ideology of the BJP and RSS, as opposed to the Hinduism that he stands for, is a valid and much-needed debate in these toxic times. Yet, why is Rahul Gandhi not taken seriously? Why is Kejriwal, who trounced BJP and Congress in the Delhi elections twice by unprecedented margins solely on the twin planks of governance and development, grovelling before voters chanting mantras and promising pilgrimages? Why is he losing confidence in what he believes in?
Politicians like Nehru, Sardar Patel, Jaya Prakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia needed no validation from others about their ideologies or religious beliefs nor stooped to prove that they were ardent Hindus. Their faith in humanism, fraternity, and equality for all did not waver. The Opposition must ponder deeply and get their ideology and politics right.
Modi invoked the noble qualities of Ram and ideals of Ram Rajya in Ayodhya and paid obeisance to Viswanath in Kashi, with an oblique reference to those invaders like Aurangzeb who desecrated Hindu temples centuries ago. His followers took it as a call for a crusade of war against the minorities, unleashing terror and violence. The open calls for ethnic cleansing by some are the very antithesis of every ideal those deities symbolise. Modi can, and must, put a stop to this hate and violence before it gets out of hand. As he enjoys a huge mandate, his actions, his words, as well his silences, can unleash destructive forces. They can also douse the fire of hatred and heal and unite the country.
Modi can leave a legacy of bringing a sense of pride to Hindus, ‘with malice toward none, with charity for all’. It may also be more prudent politics in the long run. The Hindus are amorphous and detest straight-jacketing into rigid belief systems.
Modi can mix religion with politics if he believes in the ideals and precepts of Gandhi, whom he often invokes. Gandhi, the greatest Hindu that ever lived, said,” Those who believe religion and politics aren’t connected don’t understand either...For me, humanitarian service, or rather service of all that lives, is religion. And I draw no distinction between such religion and politics.”
(The writer is a soldier, farmer and entrepreneur)
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