Worship is Work...Pray, What's That?

A classic example is a recent speech by Chhattisgarh CM Ajit Jogi: "Lord Ram does not belong to one section. He is there for all, everyone’s Ram. It’s time to understand Him, decide how to reach Him and figure out who is a genuine devotee of the Lord.... We’re speaking of Ram who is the soul of India, Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘Hey Ram’."

Jogi was speaking at a five-day Virat Ram Mela organised by Congress MLA and assembly speaker Rajendra Prasad Shukla. He went on to warn the audience against fake Rambhakts like "Ravan’s agent Kaal Nemi". He also promised to sanction a Ramcharit Manas Bhavan in the state capital, saying that Chhattisgarh had a special bond with Ram because the Lord’s mother, Kaushalya, and his sons, Luv and Kush, were born in the region. "We have a greater right over Ram," he asserted.

Jogi’s new-found love for Lord Ram is being attributed to the aggressive campaign against Christian conversions launched by the BJP. The CM, himself a tribal Christian, is being charged by the Sangh parivar with facilitating conversions and giving concessions to churches in the tribal-dominated state. Of late, Jogi has made it a point to host community-wise dinners; for Digambar Jains one day, Svetambar Jains on another, followed by Aggarwals and then Brahmins. He has also been making aggressive attempts to woo the OBCs, seen as being most vulnerable to the Hindutva rhetoric, by promising to fight for 51 per cent of assembly tickets for them.

Jogi appears to be taking a leaf out of Madhya Pradesh CM Digvijay Singh’s book. Like the late V.N. Gadgil, the party’s strongest proponent of soft Hindutva, the CM’s never made any bones about his religious leanings and his penchant for visiting and restoring temples is well known. "Why let the BJP get away with being representatives of the Hindus? I am not going to allow that," says Digvijay.

The MP CM has not only written to PM Atal Behari Vajpayee requesting a countrywide ban on cow slaughter but defends the move aggressively: "Even Gandhi organised his great agitations around issues like cow slaughter. Was he practising soft Hindutva? My government had brought a similar legislation on cow slaughter way back in 1994.... Babur told his son Humayun that if he wanted to rule India, he should not kill cows. That stands even today." Besides projecting himself as a gau-rakshak (protector of cows), he’s also credited with enhancing the emoluments of temple priests in the state.

While Digvijay’s "soft Hindutva" predates Gujarat, it is only now that he’s started flaunting it. This is being attributed to the entry of firebrand BJP leader Uma Bharati into the campaign arena and the public response she is drawing. Congressmen, including the CM, made it a point to attend the 49-day Mahachandi Yagna in Bhopal recently. And all the flak that cwc member Kamal Nath attracted for the soft Hindutva campaign in Gujarat did not stop him from organising a big religious meet in Chhindwara, featuring prominent religious leaders.

The CM used competitive Hindutva to handle the cow slaughter riots in Vidisha: he arrested BJP workers and then declared that he believed in the therapeutic effects of cow urine. The Dhar Bhojshala issue may prove harder to deal with. A mosque stands on the site of what was a Sanskrit university in the time of Raja Bhoj, with an idol of the goddess of learning, Saraswati, located in the courtyard. Hindus worship there through the week and on Fridays, the Muslims offer namaaz. The VHP now wants control over the premises. VHP leader Praveen Togadia held a big rally at Dhar last week. So far, Digvijay has been passing the buck to the asi, which maintains the monument. But the agitation is threatening to snowball.

Even Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot seems more cautious in his dealings with the Hindutva brigade. He recently attended a five-day Ram Katha organised by state governor Anshuman Singh to raise money for drought relief. A prominent religious leader, Murari Bapu, was the chief attraction. Not only was the state administrative machinery pressed into service but the entire cabinet was present. The government’s PR directorate also makes it a point now to mention the temples the CM visits while on tour. The CM has had second thoughts on the banning the trishul diksha (distribution) campaign of the VHP. The threatened case against Togadia who slipped into the riot-hit Gangapur city last year despite a ban has also not materialised.

Only Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit appears unaffected by the Gujarat backlash. "All this talk of Hindutva is pure hype. I’m not afraid. The best way to counter this communal campaign is to take it head-on.... We are a 100-year-old party. Do we need lessons in Hinduism from the BJP?" It’s a stand Dikshit can afford to take, with even the BJP acknowledging that the Delhi electorate is more concerned with local issues.