The Big Story: Temple and State
The Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah outraged a section of Malayalis on Tuesday with a seemingly innocuous festival greeting. Wishing people for “Vaman Jayanti”, Shah put out a Hindi-language poster on Facebook and Twitter that shows a Brahmin dwarf placing his foot on the head of the legendary king of Kerala, Mahabali. Mahabali is saluting the Brahmin in a gesture of submission.
Onam is Kerala’s biggest festival. The mythological story underpinning the celebration revolves around the Malayali king Mahabali, whose rule is considered a golden period. However, his power made the Devas, Vedic gods, envious which led to Vishnu taking the form of a Brahmin dwarf and tricking Mahabali into defeat. Mahabali was sent to hell but he still returns annually to visit Kerala – which is when his former kingdom celebrates Onam.
Shah’s poster, therefore, attempts at drastic rewiring of the Onam legend: now the dwarf Brahmin is seen to be the hero, not Mahabali. In fact, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has been pushing this story for some time now in Kerala as part of its efforts to introduce Hindutva into the state.
Not unexpectedly, Shah’s depiction angered Malayalis. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan demanded an apology from the BJP chief and #PoMoneShahji (get lost, Sonny) trended on social media.
However, this issue goes much beyond just Kerala or Onam. What is truly outrageous about this is the naked use of religion to push a political agenda. Whether Malayalis want to worship Vaman or Mahabali is up to them. It is not for the BJP president to act as a religious leader and push theology.
The firm intertwining of faith and religion is nothing new in India. Way back in 1895, Congress leader Bal Gangadhar Tilak had used a religious festival, Ganesh Chauturthi, as a means to mobilise Marathis politically. Later, on the national stage, Gandhi would combine Hindu iconography as well as Muslim elements such as the Khilafat to try and conduct a new style of mass politics. In 1946, the Muslim League would directly go to Muslim Punjabis and claim that not voting for the League would result in them losing their religion.
While each use of religion yielded short-term political gains, the long-term effect on the subcontinent was disastrous. In fact, the BJP’s rise in the 1980s and 1990s was due to the Ayodhya temple movement – hardly a desirous template for a country entering a new millennium.
Unfortunately, it seems the electoral dividends from the use of religion means that it is not going to end soon. It is up to Indians of all stripes and classes to demand that politicians stop using theology to win their votes and concentrate on the more secular matter of human development.
This Article was first published in Scroll.in