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When a regime changes new gods replace old ones. There is nothing surprising about that. And that is true for theNarendra Modisarkar as well.
In that sense his selection of Mathura as the place to give his big one year anniversary speech is not too surprising even though it might have woken up its celebrity MP Hema Malini with a start.
Mathura is the birthplace of Deendayal Upadhyaya, the ideological guru of the Sangh Parivar even though most Indians outside that parivar would not recognise Upadhyaya in a line-up. But as Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of a biography on Modi notes, the UPA’s Aajeevika Scheme has already been rechristened the Deen Dayal Skill Development Programme. His birth centenary in 2015-16 will be marked by nationwide celebrations. Modi’s journey to Mathura, writes Mukhopadhyay in theEconomic Times“must be seen as part of efforts to resurrect forgotten icons of Sangh Parivar.”
Narendra Modi. PTI
But it’s also a two-for-one for Modi. If Upadhyay had been born in Calcutta like the BJP’s other icon, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, it would have not made for such a potent symbolic backdrop to mark one year of his government. Calcutta does not occupy a venerated place in the Hindu psyche the way Mathura does.
In its cautiously optimistic one year report card of the Modi government,The Economistsaid that while it had not supported its candidacy because of his handling of the 2002 riots, it was relieved that one year of Modi sarkar had not seen Hindu-Muslim conflagrations. Every time Modi is asked, especially by foreign media, about a Hindutva agenda he bats it away by saying the only book he is guided by is the Constitution of India.
But this is a case not of “Read my lips” but “Watch what I do and where I do it.” Modi has never shied away from his ideological roots. He refused the Muslim skull cap as a matter of principle. He won election from the holiest city of Varanasi. And now he will deliver his one-year anniversary speech from Mathura. Modi does not need to spell out his ideology in words. The ringing cries of “Har har Modi, ghar ghar Modi” did the job quite splendidly at his rallies even though he half-heartedly tried to shush them.
There is nothing wrong with dusting off forgotten icons and re-evaluating their place in history. One could claim that the BJP is doing now what the Congress has done for decades. The difference is the BJP is promoting thinkers and ideologues while the Congress promoted one family. As notedbeforeit is estimated the Congress party showed its love for the Nehru-Gandhi family in at least 650 ways from the Jawahar Dweep in Mumbai Harbour to the Indira Gandhi Canal Project to the Rajiv Gandhi Gold Cup Kabaddi Tournament. Without the Congress obeisance to its first family, Rajiv Gandhi, a one-time PM would probably be better known for losing a great mandate and the Bofors scam. Instead thanks to the Congress deification programme it made news this year that the President and the Prime Minister chose not to go to his memorial on his death anniversary.
Some semblance of historical corrective is inevitable, even necessary. In that sense one could say it’s just out with the old Gandhi-Nehrus and in with the new Upadhyay-Mukherjees. But there is a difference between the two. One was about promotion of dynasty. The other is about promotion of ideology. It’s not that one is better or more desirable than the other but the promotion of dynasty inevitably has shallower roots as the plight ofRahul Gandhimakes clear. All the Congress’ hagiography and mythmaking skills could not propel his party to even a respectable showing in the 2014. If anything the 2014 election exposed the embarrassing truth that the Nehru-Gandhi insurance policy was not yielding even respectable returns for the Congress. None of this is unique to India. US Presidents try to handpick Supreme Court judges who reflect their ideological beliefs and can tilt the balance of the court their way long after the president’s term is over. That is a more lasting legacy than a Kennedy or Bush or Clinton surname.
Promotion of ideology will inevitably have deeper roots because while bloodlines can peter out, ideology can always find new standard bearers. The RSS was banned in 1948 and in the wilderness later but its ideas just awaited more fertile soil. The world remembers the images of Babri Masjid and Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya. But an ideological shift means you don’t need ostentatious Rathayatras anymore. As Pramod Kumar of the RSS tells Ellen Barry ofThe New York Times“It’s deep inside our hearts – the Ram temple.. I can fold my hands and quietly say the temple must be built, or someone can make a big hue and cry about it. It makes no difference. The temple must be built. It’s normal.”
By making the trip to Mathura,Narendra Modiis not just paying his respects to Deen Dayal Upadhyay as he is perfectly entitled to do, but also signaling one more step in a far more ambitious project of setting the new ideological normal. The battle over Rana Pratap the Great versus Akbar the Great is a skirmish in that very same project. AsThe Times of Indianotes “all is on message: Akbar is the bad guy, he must be demoted from greatness” no matter that he ruled a grand empire while Maharana Pratap had a small kingdom in a corner of Rajasthan.
Rajasthan’s Education minister thinks that since Rana Pratap fought Akbar both cannot be great. But in fact they could be. Until now we had been fed many Amar Chitra Katha style stories of Rajput valour AND stories of Akbar’s greatness. Now that is being presented as an either-or. That is a shift and whether it withstands historical scrutiny or not is irrelevant because asTOIsays “never let facts stand in the way of a zealous hot-blooded story.”
Modi makes a virtue of his lack of family ties and that resonates well with Indians fed up with stories of the excesses of Vadra-gate. But even if Modi does not want to rule on the strength of his DNA, he has every intention to change the DNA of the country. Mathura with Deen Dayal Upadhyay is one stop in that larger crusade.
Promoting Hindutva ideology? Modi's Mathura rally is a step towards a larger goal - Firstpost
In that sense his selection of Mathura as the place to give his big one year anniversary speech is not too surprising even though it might have woken up its celebrity MP Hema Malini with a start.
Mathura is the birthplace of Deendayal Upadhyaya, the ideological guru of the Sangh Parivar even though most Indians outside that parivar would not recognise Upadhyaya in a line-up. But as Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of a biography on Modi notes, the UPA’s Aajeevika Scheme has already been rechristened the Deen Dayal Skill Development Programme. His birth centenary in 2015-16 will be marked by nationwide celebrations. Modi’s journey to Mathura, writes Mukhopadhyay in theEconomic Times“must be seen as part of efforts to resurrect forgotten icons of Sangh Parivar.”
Narendra Modi. PTI
But it’s also a two-for-one for Modi. If Upadhyay had been born in Calcutta like the BJP’s other icon, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, it would have not made for such a potent symbolic backdrop to mark one year of his government. Calcutta does not occupy a venerated place in the Hindu psyche the way Mathura does.
In its cautiously optimistic one year report card of the Modi government,The Economistsaid that while it had not supported its candidacy because of his handling of the 2002 riots, it was relieved that one year of Modi sarkar had not seen Hindu-Muslim conflagrations. Every time Modi is asked, especially by foreign media, about a Hindutva agenda he bats it away by saying the only book he is guided by is the Constitution of India.
But this is a case not of “Read my lips” but “Watch what I do and where I do it.” Modi has never shied away from his ideological roots. He refused the Muslim skull cap as a matter of principle. He won election from the holiest city of Varanasi. And now he will deliver his one-year anniversary speech from Mathura. Modi does not need to spell out his ideology in words. The ringing cries of “Har har Modi, ghar ghar Modi” did the job quite splendidly at his rallies even though he half-heartedly tried to shush them.
There is nothing wrong with dusting off forgotten icons and re-evaluating their place in history. One could claim that the BJP is doing now what the Congress has done for decades. The difference is the BJP is promoting thinkers and ideologues while the Congress promoted one family. As notedbeforeit is estimated the Congress party showed its love for the Nehru-Gandhi family in at least 650 ways from the Jawahar Dweep in Mumbai Harbour to the Indira Gandhi Canal Project to the Rajiv Gandhi Gold Cup Kabaddi Tournament. Without the Congress obeisance to its first family, Rajiv Gandhi, a one-time PM would probably be better known for losing a great mandate and the Bofors scam. Instead thanks to the Congress deification programme it made news this year that the President and the Prime Minister chose not to go to his memorial on his death anniversary.
Some semblance of historical corrective is inevitable, even necessary. In that sense one could say it’s just out with the old Gandhi-Nehrus and in with the new Upadhyay-Mukherjees. But there is a difference between the two. One was about promotion of dynasty. The other is about promotion of ideology. It’s not that one is better or more desirable than the other but the promotion of dynasty inevitably has shallower roots as the plight ofRahul Gandhimakes clear. All the Congress’ hagiography and mythmaking skills could not propel his party to even a respectable showing in the 2014. If anything the 2014 election exposed the embarrassing truth that the Nehru-Gandhi insurance policy was not yielding even respectable returns for the Congress. None of this is unique to India. US Presidents try to handpick Supreme Court judges who reflect their ideological beliefs and can tilt the balance of the court their way long after the president’s term is over. That is a more lasting legacy than a Kennedy or Bush or Clinton surname.
Promotion of ideology will inevitably have deeper roots because while bloodlines can peter out, ideology can always find new standard bearers. The RSS was banned in 1948 and in the wilderness later but its ideas just awaited more fertile soil. The world remembers the images of Babri Masjid and Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya. But an ideological shift means you don’t need ostentatious Rathayatras anymore. As Pramod Kumar of the RSS tells Ellen Barry ofThe New York Times“It’s deep inside our hearts – the Ram temple.. I can fold my hands and quietly say the temple must be built, or someone can make a big hue and cry about it. It makes no difference. The temple must be built. It’s normal.”
By making the trip to Mathura,Narendra Modiis not just paying his respects to Deen Dayal Upadhyay as he is perfectly entitled to do, but also signaling one more step in a far more ambitious project of setting the new ideological normal. The battle over Rana Pratap the Great versus Akbar the Great is a skirmish in that very same project. AsThe Times of Indianotes “all is on message: Akbar is the bad guy, he must be demoted from greatness” no matter that he ruled a grand empire while Maharana Pratap had a small kingdom in a corner of Rajasthan.
Rajasthan’s Education minister thinks that since Rana Pratap fought Akbar both cannot be great. But in fact they could be. Until now we had been fed many Amar Chitra Katha style stories of Rajput valour AND stories of Akbar’s greatness. Now that is being presented as an either-or. That is a shift and whether it withstands historical scrutiny or not is irrelevant because asTOIsays “never let facts stand in the way of a zealous hot-blooded story.”
Modi makes a virtue of his lack of family ties and that resonates well with Indians fed up with stories of the excesses of Vadra-gate. But even if Modi does not want to rule on the strength of his DNA, he has every intention to change the DNA of the country. Mathura with Deen Dayal Upadhyay is one stop in that larger crusade.
Promoting Hindutva ideology? Modi's Mathura rally is a step towards a larger goal - Firstpost
