Over a hundred years ago Tilak used religion to unite Indians against British rule. Today’s politicians are using religion to turn Indian against Indian.
Religion and politics is a heady mix and dangerous too. It should be avoided at all costs. But in India come election time someone or the other is ready with the mix. The state of Uttar Pradesh is going to the polls this month. Uttar Pradesh is the most populated state in India and nowhere else in India is the population more deeply divided along religion, caste and community lines. It was little wonder then that yesterday the Election Commission issued a notice to the Bharatiya Janata Party for releasing a propaganda CD that contained speeches using religion to arouse passion.
But mixing religion and politics was not always considered a destructive practice. In this post I would like to pay tribute to the man who used religion with telling effect to arouse a spirit of nationalism against British rule a little over a hundred years ago. The man I am referring to is Balgangadhar Tilak. Seeing how easily the British were dividing Indians along lines of religion and caste Tilak decided he had to do something to unite Indians. Tilak was from the state of Maharashtra and Ganesh, the deity with the elephant head, is highly revered there. The birth anniversary of Ganesh is celebrated sometime in August-September. It was a private function with rituals conducted at home. Tilak converted this into a public function. Statues of Ganesh were installed in public places such as gardens and street squares. The people collectively worshipped the God and participated in the rituals. Differences and even enmities were forgotten and people began to speak to each other. And sooner rather than later the subject shifted to rule under the British. This led to the rise of a nationalistic fervor that Nehru and Gandhi and the others were able to capitalize on.
When I see today’s politicians using religion to turn Indian against Indian, I sometimes wonder whether Tilak did the right thing.
