© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Like “Bharat Mata” is for India, she is seen as an image of Chhattisgarh. On Saturday, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel directed officials to prominently display portraits of Chhattisgarh Mahatari (it means “mother” in the Chhattisgarhi dialect) at all official functions of the state government. The portraits of Chhattisgarh Mahatari are to be displayed in offices too, according to sources in the government.
Chhattisgarh Mahatari is imagery that was coined first in prose, with different regions of the state as body parts. Dressed in a green lugra (saree), wearing a crown of plants and holding paddy in her hand, the image was drawn in the mid-1990s. Historians say that the image gained prominence after 1996 as the demand for a separate state grew. Temples dedicated to Chhattisgarh Mahatari sprang up across the state, including one in Raipur, the current state capital. But after the state was formed, the use of the image for political purposes declined. Till now.
“She is not a goddess, but the collective image of the state. Her head is the Sarguja division and her feet are Sukma. She is like mother India, but for the state,” explained a senior historian. He added, “Mahatari has been a sign of the local people’s power. It is an icon that connects the state.”
Baghel, who calls himself a son of the soil, has been trying to connect himself with local icons in an effort to make himself look approachable and relatable. In 2019, the government adopted “Arpa Pairy ke Dhar” as the state song. This strategy adds heft to the Congress’s claim of working for locals, political experts said, and poses a challenge to the BJP, which is suffering from disconnection with people in the state because of its top-down approach.
Last week, Baghel began almost all his outreach programmes by invoking the Mahatari. On Friday, while directing officials he said, “People in the state are prosperous and happy due to the blessings of Chhattisgarh Mahatari.”
Baghel’s strategy of using local iconography to consolidate his position among the electorate is a spin on the strategy BJP has adopted nationally. He has also made attempts to use Hindu religious iconography to hit out at the Opposition party. One of the Congress-led government’s ambitious projects is the Ram Van Gaman Paryatan Paripath that is a tourism circuit envisaged to map the route that devotees believe the deity took during his exile from Ayodhya. The CM, in an interview to The Indian Express last month, also hit out at the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), accusing them of turning “gentle and benign Lord Ram” into a Rambo-like figure and Hanuman into a symbol of anger.
A retired bureaucrat said the Congress in Chhattisgarh was trying to beat the BJP at its own game. “The BJP has its own connections with people but by taking away the icons, the Congress government is making them question their points of fighting. The Congress is defeating them in their own game.”
The BJP, meanwhile, has accused the Baghel government of deceiving people. “Just by saying you are from the state does not mean anything. If people on the ground are unhappy, they won’t care about icons. The Congress has not done anything for the people,” said a senior BJP leader.
