Watching Narendra Modi at Kashi Vishwanath temple and later at
Dashashwamedh Ghat during the evening Ganga Aarti in Varanasi, I am
reminded of the time when he, in an interview, said that he was a
nationalist and a Hindu. The moment he said it, I wondered how soon
media will pick it up as an “admission of guilt”. They did it soon
enough, and headlines declaring that Modi had referred to himself as a
“Hindu nationalist” began to be seen everywhere.
The Western publications that refer to him as a Hindu nationalist
politician / leader, use the phrase as a pejorative description. That
Modi does nothing to refute these reveals something very important about
him – Modi is unapologetically Hindu. He adheres to India’s ancient
civilisational heritage without saying it in so many words. As with his
administration, his cultural affiliation finds expression through
action, not through hollow symbolism.
What Modi’s visit to Kashi Vishwanath and later Ganga Aarti signifies
is that the race to prove oneself secular by mouthing words in praise
of all religions (while at the same time doing little or nothing for the
betterment of the said communities) is passe. The Skull Cap Politics
that no Indian is stranger to (especially right before elections) proves
that we have allowed symbolism to become bigger than the object it
symbolises – unity, integrity, and equality.
By paying homage to Ganga in Varanasi without fearing being labelled
‘communal’, Modi has made sure that we begin the slow climb towards true
secularism – an atmosphere where different communities do more than
merely ‘co-exist’. An atmosphere where they cooperate and work together
to build an India where symbolism is put back in its place and people of
every religion can be themselves without being considered anti each
other.
When Modi offers prayers to Shiv and Ganga, he is not making a
statement against any other religion. He is merely asserting his own
religious identity. He defies those who would argue that merely being
Hindu is something anti-Muslim. He challenges the notion — popularised
by India’s self-styled defenders of secularism — that religions are at
odds with each other in this country. India has never had to learn
secularism from the West, and she is not going to start now.-NitiCentral
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