India Mixing Religion and Politics
Spirituality is Refusing to be Left Out of the Drive to Modernize
Incidents of India's frontline politicians helping the economy along by dabbling in the occult, astrology and mythology. Watch out China...
Looking quickly through any Indian paper, one notices the blatant trumpeting of the economic advances being made by India and Indians abroad and the national pride behind it. However, IITs, Bollywood, political parties and big businesses don't seem to be able to function or at least break any new boundaries without consultation with, and approval from, a host of elements that definitely belong to a past age.
A Boost for India's Shipping Looms...
Recently the Hindi nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramaniam Swamy filed a petition against the proposed Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project in Tamil Nadu. The INR 23.3 billion project involving the construction of a sea route through the waterway that separates Sri Lanka from the Indian mainland would greatly decrease the distance between the west and east coats of India, speed up shipping times and boost the development of thirteen proposed ports on India's south eastern coast. Not surprisingly then, many politicians and industrialists in the south of the country were anxious to see the deal go ahead.
...But Ram Intervenes
Not so the BJP, who oppose the dredging of the waterway as the site of the mythical Ram Sethu, the bridge built by the followers of the monkey god Hanuman which allowed Ram to cross over to Sri Lanka and rescue Sita after her abduction, lies here. This forms a central part of the Ramayana of Hindu mythology, and so is an especially sensitive issue in the Hindu majority south. This was demonstrated when a government minister, in relation to the supposed bridge, questioned which engineering college Ram had graduated from, and was answered by riots in which two lives were lost. A commission has been set up to 'save' the Ram Sethu, with the backing of several Hindu groups worldwide (Himal Southasian Oct-Nov 2007).
A Taboo-Breaking Chief Minister
On November 24th, the Times of India devoted a whole column to the taboo-breaking politician, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati, who visited Noida, a suburb of Delhi. In the past this has been a bad omen for UP politicians; Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati's rival lost his seat after visiting a school in Noida exactly thirteen years ago. This story of the gutsy politician who also lives at Thirteen, Mall Avenue in the state's capital Lucknow and was sworn into office on May 13th 2007, along with a history of other talismans and taboos present in today's Indian politics took precedence over a piece on the same page concerning the continued wrangling between Congress and its Leftist allies over the proposed US-Indo nuclear deal, which, if it goes through will allow India greater access to 'economic' nuclear power (and US backing).
Speeches and the Stars
Preceeding their recent victories over the Congress party in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, in Karnataka, local BJP party leaders had been due to make acceptance speeches celebrating the formation of their party's first government in the south of the country. A last minute consultation with an astrologer caused the time of the addresses to be moved by ten minutes to appease the heavens, something which was freely admitted to by the party in a later press release. Ten minutes was not enough however, as on November 19th, barely a week after its formation the BJP government collapsed after its coalition allies reneged on a power-sharing deal and stabbed it in the back in a no-confidence vote. (Times of India, 20th Nov 2007)
It seems mythology, religion and astronomy are often the substances of choice for many holding power in India as the country faces huge internal challenges and competition with China abroad. Sceptics may scoff but it's undeniably a refreshing change from the usual stimulants our politicians in the West indulge in. These incidents along with the thousands of other contradictions India consistently throws up (and advertises in its media) are all pleasant reminders that India, still, belongs to the East.
