Opinion Pop faith
On campaign trail, Hinduism gets drained of its commanding complexity
Clearly, this is a much-truncated register of the core features of the Hindu faith. 
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In the months leading up to the general elections, at least four images emerge as the leitmotif of this “festival of democracy”. One, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s underwater dive with a peacock feather tucked into the sash around his midriff, to lay at the feet of Lord Krishna in the submerged city of Dwarka (with a TV cameraman to chronicle the “very divine experience”); two, the VVIPs massed at the consecration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, soaking in the spiritual atmosphere even as they craned their necks to see and be seen by PM Modi (on live TV); three, Nita Ambani’s ‘Vishwambhari Stuti’ dance performance in a red-gold Manish Malhotra sari at her son’s pre-wedding celebrations in Jamnagar (captured professionally by high-end TV cameras) and four, the live telecast of the press conference in Varanasi, after court orders allowed Hindus to extend their area of worship in the Gyanvapi mosque.
These pictures suggest that the practice of Hinduism may be changing, and the metamorphosis is in sharp focus in the last lap of the 2024 General Elections. While the 2019 elections were centred on the Pulwama attack and the rising nationalistic fervour, in 2024, the emotional quotient has shifted to sumptuous rituals and the performative aspects of the Hindu faith. The conflation of religion and culture is intentional. Countless Hindu voters are turbo-charged when they watch the daily live telecasts of PM Modi bowing his head before deities, offering flowers, performing aarti, cupping his hands for consecrated water, having his forehead smeared with sandalwood paste and wearing religious headgear. Other prominent politicians, including the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, have adopted such temple visits as de rigueur, as have their followers in the corporate sector, the bureaucracy and the judiciary.
This obeisance is now performed publicly, as befitting an ascendant Hindu faith, especially vis-à-vis the Other who had repressed the faith for a thousand years. And vast multitudes are admiring the razzle-dazzle and powerful oratory of politicians who use classical Hindu texts to recall past humiliations, before segueing to the treachery of political opponents today, always with a high-octane pitch of nationalism.
The blend of Hindu rituals, technology and nationalism is awe-inspiring and oddly comforting as the public becomes part of the magic realism of gods boarding helicopters, usually in the presence of important political figures, or placing a laser knife at the demon’s throat. Almost every large village in the country has begun to enact ancient stories in powerful new ways with drone technology and audio-video paraphernalia. The overwhelming storyline is not only that good wins over evil, but that we Hindus will win because we are now a formidable nation (shaktishali desh).
The other assertion that is gaining ground is that we Hindus have been too tolerant, but now we are demanding the right of way, even if the Other has to be marginalised. We are also learning to stress that those who live in India have a common civilisational lineage. A senior RSS leader told me at Shahnawaz Hussein’s iftar party, “Bharat Hindu Rashtra tha, aur ab phir Hindu Rashtra ban chuka hai. Yeh samajh lijiye” (Bharat was a Hindu Rashtra, and is now again a Hindu Rashtra. Understand this).
But as we get comfortable with the performative, ritualistic and somewhat bombastic assertion of the Hindu identity conflated with nationalism, the key question is this: Is the core of the Hindu faith receding? As one of the great ancient religions of the world, the Hindu faith is built on some breathtakingly simple beliefs. What are some of these beliefs, and are they retreating from the popular practice of the Hindu faith in India today?
One of the exquisite doctrines of the Vedas and the Bhagavad Gita is the renunciation of all attachment, but not of work or duties: Nishkama karma. The texts urge, “You have a right to your work, but have no right over its fruit” (C Rajagopalachari, Hinduism: Doctrine and Way of Life, 1959)
Two, the other epic, the Ramayana, exhorts the reader to always do the right thing, like Maryada Purushottam Ram.
Three, the Hindu belief in the One, all-pervasive Supreme Being who dwells in each soul, “that there is that in us which is immortal, other than the body we mistake for it… who sees all beings in his own body, realises that all beings are one with himself”. This is the concept of non-duality, advaita (Ishavasya Upanishad).
Four, the belief in Karma, that we cannot escape the effect of our actions and that the moral law of cause and effect bears down on us through this life and beyond. Time is cyclical, and human beings have to liberate themselves from endless rebirths and strive towards moksha or liberation.
Five, the tradition does not allow hate. “It is not open to any Hindu, whatever be the name and mental image of the Supreme Being he (she) uses for his (her) devotional exercises, to deny the divinity or the truth of the God of other denominations” (C Rajagopalachari).
Six, the Upanishads set down an unshakeable adherence to truth and to tireless investigation to reach the truth.
Clearly, this is a much-truncated register of the core features of the Hindu faith. But as our politicians trigger a Hindutva frenzy, and foment divisions in society based on grievances of the past and the Hindus’ superiority in the present, when was the last time that political leaders spoke of even these few core beliefs? By stripping the faith of its precious kernel for electoral gains, politicians are robbing Hindus of their agency. They are deliberately propping up a transactional and pop version of this commanding, complex faith. Ironically, this is happening in Amrit Kaal.
The writer is a senior journalist
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