The Sangh Parivar is paranoid of symbols, and with general elections around the corner, it is unlikely that this madness will decline in the next few months.
In this atmosphere of idol-toppling, my first thought is how bad things could have been if Islam had been a religion of idolatry. Thank God there can be no depictions of Allah or the Prophet, or else can you imagine the potential communal catastrophe?
But anyway, let’s bring our thoughts back from hypothetical tensions to real ones.
Targeting symbols
Invading tribes and armies have almost always demolished, desecrated and disfigured statues and idols of the vanquished. Why do these symbols, though lifeless in stone or bronze, provoke people to demolish them? Or, on the flip side, how do they inspire them to action?
This question has posed an intellectual challenge to anthropologists, sociologists, and psychologists for the last at least two hundred years. In their jargon, such sculpted objects are known as totems and symbols.
Totems, though evolved from animal spirits and images, have now acquired a sociological meaning. Totem is a “sacred object or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, clan, tribe or lineage”. The renowned anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss describes totemism as “hysteria”, a mass phenomenon.
The whole country witnessed a kind of totemism in Tripura last week. The demolition of Lenin’s statue by deploying a bulldozer was clearly not a spontaneous expression but planned, orchestrated hysteria. The pulling down of the statue was done with same precision that was seen in the demolition of the Babri Majid, 25 years ago.
But why is the Sangh Parivar so paranoid of symbols, be it Babri or the Lenin statue or even the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi?
Lenin never decreed that his statues be built. Nor did Ambedkar. Mahatma Gandhi practiced transcendental politics and could not have approved of his statues. Chhatrapati Shivaji was too busy establishing his empire to issue diktats to erect his statues after his death. The Babri Masjid was not inspiring Muslim fundamentalism, nor was the Lenin statue in Tripura motivating comrades to paint India red.
After her stunning victory over the 34-year incumbent Left Front in West Bengal in 2011, Mamata Banerjee did not campaign to destroy its various symbols. The Trinamool Congress did not change the name of the Ho Chi Minh street because he was a “foreigner”.
So what is it about the Sangh Parivar and its hatred for these symbols, and even of things like the Taj Mahal and the Qutub Minar?
We are lucky that so far, questions haven’t been raised about the status and sanctity of the Red Fort (built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan), from where Narendra Modi and all other Prime Ministers address the nation on Independence Day. Who knows, there may be calls for the I-Day address to be shifted to the famous Hanuman Mandir near the Red Fort which, according to legend, dates back to the Mahabharata and was “rebuilt” in 1724? Or even Delhi’s iconic Lotus Temple, which would popularise the BJP’s election symbol even more?
Strategic madness
The question really is, why have symbols become more important that actual issues over the last three decades? For Jawaharlal Nehru, projects like the Bhakra-Nangal Dam and Bhilai Steel Plant were modern temples. He did not trumpet “development”; he made it happen, by setting up the Durgapur and Rourkela steel plants, by establishing atomic energy laboratories, by starting a chain of IITs across the country, by promoting oil exploration under the ministry of K.D. Malaviya.
And here we have the media, over the last four years, debating Ram Mandir, beef, cow slaughter, Padmaavat, Article 370, rewriting school textbooks, Ram Setu, the legitimacy of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata as history and so on. All the debates are now about nationalism and patriotism, as if the country before 2014 was ruled only by “anti-nationals” like Nehru and Indira Gandhi.
There is method to this raging madness. It all boils down to the obsession over elections.
Ever since Modi and his bhakts declared that their messiah is going to rule the nation till 2029 (if not till eternity), it has become imperative for them to send this “Ashvamedha” to all corners of India. “One nation, one election”, “one nation, one tax”, “one nation, one history” and such other campaigns are part of that “strategic madness”.
The organised intolerance and violence, the strident anti-Congress and now anti-communist campaign, and a language of hate, as well as “shock and awe” announcements like demonetisation, are all part of that electoral obsession.
Psychologists would say that this obsession is a consequence of an acute fear of losing, paranoia, lack of self-confidence, and hyped exhibitionism to hide an inferiority complex.
It is unlikely that this aggressive and violent madness will decline in the next few months. In fact, its intensity will increase as the general elections come nearer.
But there are not many statues of Lenin, and very few even of Nehru. So, expect the Hindutva fanatics to continue to attack Ambedkar’s statues or those of Gandhi. After all, attacking the Taj Mahal or the Qutub Minar could be electorally and commercially counterproductive.
Kumar Ketkar is a Congress nominee for Rajya Sabha.
Just one glance at the title and I knew that the author would be Ketkar as Mani doesn’t write for The Print. And I was right!!
Why do the BJP followers don’t even talk about pulling down British symbols? Statues might inspire some people but the English language has been and is still being the real Bharat eater, her education, languages, culture, administration, the Indian poor people, and what not!
Correct sir, I agree to you completely. To start with, I guess all state languages should be made compulsory in respective states. Migrants should be made to learn local state languages. Giving tax incentives to film makers for supporting Indian language subtitles for their films. We can also ask each state to pick one non state Indian language additionally in school. But all these shouldn’t mean we have to stop learning English, it connect us to the world outside.
How ironical, the last italic statement said it all – The author is a RS nominee for CONGRESS.
What evidence do you have of BJP involved in idol pulling down ??
Sir, are you on retainer-ship with congress or an employee.
Aren’t you on the retainership of bjp?modiocre
I would like to ask the author, is it okay to destroy the statue of Adolf Hitler, assuming there are political group in India who celebrate and identity with what he did. Possibly you will say, yes. Europe , Germany in particular, has banned even the symbol swastika in public. Just remember, Swastika, the symbol of peace, is an Indian symbol found even within the ruins of Indus Valley Civilization. What is common between Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot with Adolf Hitler. They are all autocrat, dictators and mass murderers. This group had killed more people than any one in the history of human civilization. They had created their own crazy political narrative, and used that systematically to exterminate people, their own people, as a matter of policy. They propagated hate and death. If there is one universal justice system and judiciary, they all will be hanged for crime against humanity.
It is important to realize that they are not Buddha, Mahavira or Jesus, who have only propagated love.
Lets love humanity, life and all leaving things. Lets follow the great teachers, who propagated love.
Let support only Liberal democracy and Humanism, let at least call a spade a spade just for the sake of love for life.
Is that true? So in your opinion no statues should be built? Do you know what liberal democracy means?