RSS Combine’s agenda of Hindu Rashtra has been built upon the narratives through multiple mechanisms. The festivals have been the occasion for promoting its agenda. Also highlighting some deities for ‘social political messaging’ has been in the political arena in a major way.
The recently held Kumbh was a mega spectacle, which became more of a national event rather than a religious gathering. One major change for this year’s Kumbh is its heavy marketing as a cultural and developmental showcase. It was labelled as “The Greatest Show on Earth” for Hinduism. On such occasions organizing the stay, cleanliness, and transport for the devotees is a mandatory function of the state. This time what was witnessed that state got fully involved in the process of organizing the event itself and the associates of ruling party, like VHP, Dharma Sansads (Religious Parliaments) and individual Sants/sadhus took the lead and initiatives in propagating the components of Hindu nationalist agenda and ‘Hate for Muslims’ at this congregation.
While the religious spiritual significance of the event is highly appreciated by the devotees, giving it a political colour was very significant this time around in the Kumbh. It is not the first time that Kumbh was organized. This time the occasion became the ground for enhancing Hindutva agenda. The State Government, while was inadequate in the management of the crowds, it had advertised and invited the devotees in large numbers for quite some time. Crores must have been invested for inviting the devotees.
The event was marked by a boycott of Muslim traders from setting up their shops, and stalls. The reasons given were multiple, one fake one being stated by Swami Avimukteshwaranand that Muslims spit in the food, so were kept away. Many such misleading videos are doing rounds in the social media also. It is another matter that Muslims opened their Masjids and organized food for the desperate victims of stampede. One recalls that during the Mughal period, to make the Kumbh more comfortable for devotees, many Ghats (River banks for bathing) and toilets were built by them. According to historian Heramb Chaturvedi, Akbar had appointed two of his officers to look after the arrangements of the Kumbh.
The whole area was full of hoardings of Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath. This time around a large area was reserved for VIPs, leading to stampedes in which a large number of deaths occurred. The arrangement for transport was poor and this got reflected in the death due to stampede at New Delhi Railway station.
One upstart Swami, Dhirendra Shastri, whom Mr. Narendra Modi calls his younger brother, merrily said that those who died due to stampede are the recipients of Moksha. The water quality reached abysmal low level with E. coli and high excreta content. To all the criticism about water quality and deaths the Chief Minister commented that pigs are seeing the dirt, and vultures are counting the dead!
VHP used it as a golden occasion with its Margdarshak Mandal meetings. Their speeches were full of venom for Muslims. The usual propaganda about Muslims relating to population increase, infiltrators from BanglaDesh, Cow protection was repeated at various meetings ad nauseam. The Hate spreaders like Sadhvi Ritambhara, Praveen Togadia, and Yati Narsingnanand Sarswati were having a field day with their speeches laced with Hate. They were having large audiences. BJP has successfully made use of Sadhus for its political agenda and got publicity at state expense.
One such saffron clad reiterated the demand for Kashi and Mathura and claimed that such 1860 temples have been ‘researched’, which need to be restored. Demand for closure of Madrassas and converting English schools to Gurukuls to create a Hindu World was also articulated.
In a book Published in 2024, Irfan Engineer and Neha Dabhade draw our attention to the use of religious festivals as occasions to instigate violence. Our festivals have been pleasant social occasions, cutting across religious lines. Now the trend is to take out a process during Hindu festivals, pass-through Muslims areas, change the green flag on the mosque to saffron flag, and dance with sword in hand. At the same time hateful slogans against Muslims in the air. In this book the author duo points out Ram Navami festival in particular in 2022-2023. The violence covered in the book related to Howrah and Hooghly (2023), Sambahji Nagar (2023), Vadodara (2023), Biharsharif and Sasaram 2023, Khargone (2022), Himmat Nagar and Khambat (2022) and Lohardagga (2022).
Engineer concludes “Even a small Group of Hindu nationalists masquerading as ‘religious procession’ could insist on passing through minority inhabited areas and provoke some youth using political and abusive slogans and playing violent songs and music, hoping that in reaction, a stone would be thrown at them. The state would do the rest by arresting a large number of members of a minority and demolishing their homes and properties within days without any judicial procedure.”
At another level this right-wing politics has also brought up and promoted a goddess Shabri and Lord Hanuman in Adivasi areas. As anti-Christian violence picked the Adivasi areas during the last three decades, these areas saw an intense attempt by Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram and Vishwa Hindu Prishad (RSS progeny) to promote Shabri. Shabri Kumbh was held near Dangs in Gujarat. A Shabri Temple has been erected in these areas. That time Swami Aseemanand of VHP was working in this area. He was the one; who later was accused by Maharashtra ATS for being the part of conspiracy of bomb blasts in Malegaon, Ajmer and Mecca Masjid.
Why were Shabri and Hanuman picked up to be promoted in these areas? Shabri was the poor woman who did not have enough food to offer to her Lord (Ram). So, she offered berries after first taking the taste of these before offering. Contrast is clear in city areas we have Durga, Laxmi and Sarswati to worship, while for Adivasi areas it is Shabri. Similarly, Lord Hanuman (Devotee of Lord Ram) has been popularized In Adivasi areas. Quite interesting!
Hindutva politics’ impact on our festivals reflects a lot about their politics. The way some of these are being weaponized, or the way Kumbh has been made a ground for anti-Muslim rhetoric or the way Shabri and Hanuman are popularized in Adivasi areas is worth pondering over.
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