RISE OF THE VIRTUAL HINDU

[Guest guest]

Jayendra & the 'virtual' Hindu

BY CHANDAN MITRA

 

"Some commentators have rightly said that religious channels like

Aastha, Sanskar, God TV and their clones are doing more to keep

religiosity alive than maths (or, if you prefer the Anglicised

spelling, mutts) and mandirs in 21st Century India. I would even

assert that Hinduism is fast moving out of temples and wafting into

TV screens and social events..."

 

Jayendra & the 'virtual' Hindu

BY CHANDAN MITRA

The slow and muted response to the arrest of the Shankaracharya of

Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham provides a classic opportunity to study the

Hindu psyche. On the face of it, most Hindus appeared indifferent to

the revered priest's humiliating incarceration. There were no

violent protests, not even big rallies, a couple of VHP-sponsored

bandhs evoked a tepid response and there was no visible anger.

Considering how widely the Shankaracharya was networked and given

the humungous contribution of the Kanchi math to social welfare

projects across the country, his legion admirers would seem to have

chickened out at the first whiff of draconian action.

 

 

 

The Tamil Nadu Police appeared to win the first round hands down

thanks to some deft media planning. Stories were systematically

planted to turn public opinion against him, high-decibel remarks by

the public prosecutor that the Swami was a "most undeserving

criminal" were played up. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister thundered in

the Assembly that there were "shocking" details of his involvement

in the murder. The police move to ensure a trial by media could not

have been better organised.

 

 

 

But even as the State authorities are probably complimenting

themselves on their success, a subterranean reaction has set in.

This may not be particularly bothersome for Ms Jayalalithaa,

assuming her real intent in humiliating the pontiff was to court non-

Brahmin and Muslim votes. In the process, she might have triggered a

quiet Hindu backlash, not so much in TN as in the rest of the

country.

 

 

 

This is apparent from the growing response to the BJP-led agitation

against the treatment meted out to the ailing Shankaracharya. This

should not be gauged only by the size of the crowd that assembled on

Delhi's Parliament Street for the party's three-day fast and dharna.

In fact, the numbers were not impressive. The BJP's success was in

getting people from outside the political arena to join the

protests. By committing themselves to the cause, popular preachers

like Asaramji Bapu and Sudhanshuji Maharaj lent the BJP renewed

credibility as the only party ready to fight for Hindu self-esteem.

 

 

 

In the days to come, irrespective of the outcome of legal battles

fought in the courtrooms of Kanchipuram, Chennai and Delhi, more

such Hindu evangelists can be expected to join the bandwagon.

Indeed, the nation's undisputed lifestyle guru, Sri Sri Ravishankar,

and intellectual priest Swami Dayanand Saraswati were among the cult

leaders who met in Bangalore last Wednesday to lend weight to the

snowballing agitation.

 

 

 

Some commentators have rightly said that religious channels like

Aastha, Sanskar, God TV and their clones are doing more to keep

religiosity alive than maths (or, if you prefer the Anglicised

spelling, mutts) and mandirs in 21st Century India. I would even

assert that Hinduism is fast moving out of temples and wafting into

TV screens and social events - as evident from the resurgent appeal

of rituals like karva chauth that were private observances before

films such as Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge made them fashionable.

 

 

 

In other words, Hinduism has acquired a popular culture dimension.

Congregational worship was never, and will probably never be, an

integral part of Hinduism. The only time it was attempted in recent

years was in Mumbai when Bal Thackeray called for maha-aartis on

roads as a rejoinder to namazis spilling onto public thoroughfares.

 

 

 

But TV has created an invisible link between the individual and the

collective, thereby spawning a "virtual" Hindu community. By

enlisting the support of TV evangelists, the BJP has been able to

access this "virtual" Hindu constituency. If this can be maintained,

and the BJP under Mr LK Advani's leadership succeeds in bonding

politically with the burgeoning pravachan industry, its implications

could be gargantuan. It could also be bad news in the long run for

secular fundamentalists in politics and their handmaidens in the

media.

 

 

 

Another point that students of Indian sociology might do well to

ponder is that collective Hindu response to people and events takes

a long time to gather momentum. Like everything else, Hindus react

to individual issues - violent conflict over jal, joru and j(z)ameen

has been endemic to Hindu civilisation. Besides, collective action

is a hallmark of urban society whereas Hindu civilisation, modelled

on Vedic agrarian society, is essentially rural - urbanisation being

largely an Islamic/Christian phenomenon. Collective Hindu action

even in urban areas happens only when simmering outrage breaks out

of bondage.

 

 

 

For instance, it is often said that Rajiv Gandhi's reversal of the

Shah Bano judgement and the ban on Satanic Verses generated Hindu

anger, leading to cascading electoral benefits for the BJP. But I do

not recall any violence on account of these decisions. However, they

became subjects of animated conversation all over the country - from

elite living rooms of Delhi and Mumbai to village chaupals and

crowded long-distance train compartments. A similar thing is now

happening over the Shankaracharya's arrest.

 

 

 

Urban middle class opinion is probably still divided on the subject.

But as an e-poll in a leading daily revealed, 71 per cent

respondents claimed their faith in men of religion had not been

shaken by the episode. As the days go by and a combative Jayalalitha

pursues her vendetta politics, Hindu anger is slated to

progressively rise.

 

 

 

Unfortunately for her, poll arithmetic in TN remains heavily loaded

against the ADMK, regardless of how insensitively she treats her one-

time mentor. Her wily adversary, Muthuvel Karunanidhi has,

therefore, cleverly attempted to court her natural constituency, the

Brahmins, by attributing personal motives to the launching of a

succession of cases against the hapless Swami.

 

 

 

Mr Advani, meanwhile has found an issue with the potential of re-

inculcating a sense of being Hindu among the country's majority

community. One such plank was handed to the party by the publication

of the denominational break-up of the 2001 Census figures. Hindu

insecurity is on the rise again. And the BJP plays perfectly on such

a pitch. Arguably, Hindu qua Hindu reaction is a temporary

phenomenon.

 

 

 

In the absence of an emotional issue - be in Ram Mandir or Pakistan-

bashing - the Hindu vote fails to crystallise, governance being

irrelevant to people's voting intention as exemplified by Laloo

Yadav in Bihar and the Marxists in West Bengal. But now that the new-

age gurus have been compelled by Jayalalitha to vest their faith in

BJP, the party has found just the tonic to emerge out of its

depression.

 

 

 

The Shankaracharya factor per se may not take the BJP very far. But,

10 Janpath would ignore at its peril the explosive potential of the

religion-politics mix. Almost in a jiffy, the BJP's internal

squabbles seem to have been overcome.

 

 

 

This might still not be enough to overcome the Himalayan challenges

ahead in Bihar, Jharkhand and Haryana. But, thanks to its on-and-off

ally in TN, Hindutva has found a persona. Despite its philosophical

moorings, Hindus relate to individuals, which explains the 330

million gods, just less than one for every three adherents. When the

abstract notion of Hindu esteem connects with a personality -

howsoever controversial - it carries with it the potential of

resulting in an electoral tsunami.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnist1.asp?

main_variable=Columnist&file_name=mitra%2Fmitra82%2Etxt&writer=mitra