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At a public meeting to mark the centenary of Sabarmati Ashram, Narendra Modi said, “What are we doing? Cow protection and cow worship is something that Mahatma Gandhi and Vinobha Bhave spoke about. Both of them have showed us how to do it and that is the route the country has to take for its progress.”
Evoking the Gandhian way, Modi further warned, “Killing people in the name of gau bhakti is not acceptable. This is not something Mahatma Gandhi would approve… we are a land of non-violence. We are the land of Mahatma Gandhi. Violence never has and will never solve any problem.”
This statement has been widely publicised – either as a strong message to those who are involved in the killings of innocent Muslims in the name of cow worship, or, as a reaction to the ‘Not in my name’ campaign against the failure of governance and lawlessness in recent years. However, Modi’s appropriation of Gandhi to legitimise his version of politics did not get adequate media attention.
Also Read: PM’s Rap Against Cow Vigilantism Admits Polarisation Went Too Far
A close reading of Modi’s statement suggests three conclusive points:
Let us locate these inferences in Gandhi’s writings and speeches. Gandhi’s projection as a religious worshipper (of virtually anything) is highly problematic. He was very clear about his understanding of religion and the act of worship. According to Gandhi:
In an article written in 1920, Gandhi elaborates further on it. He says:
This is the reason why Gandhi makes a distinction between historical/mythological figures and the moral virtues attached to them. He makes a few categorical observations:
Examples of these kinds show that Gandhi cannot be defined as a neutral saint who believed in status-quo, or was involved in blind bhakti of Rama, Krishna or even the cow. On the contrary, he engages deeply with the messages attached with religious symbols and makes a serious attempt to endorse constructive politics of religion.
Gandhi defined himself as a proud practicing Hindu. This bold evocation of Hinduism did not prevent him from addressing the question of violence against Muslims and other non-Hindu communities. By March 1947, when it became clear that India was going to be partitioned into India and Pakistan, Gandhi started focusing on the rights of minorities in his writings and speeches.
In an article published in Harijan, he wrote:
In another article he says:
Gandhi’s courage is clearly evident. Unlike Modi, he is not playing the power game of WE/THEY; he is very confident that his use of Hindu and Muslim as faith communities would demoralise the politics of communal organisations like the Muslim League, RSS and Hindu Mahasabha.
Narendra Modi, it seems, fails to understand the fact that Gandhi offered a creative definition of politics. He has not been able to make that distinction between religion and politics.
Gandhi clarifies, “My devotion to Truth has drawn me into the field of politics; and I can say without the slightest hesitation, and yet in all humility, that those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion means (YI, 12-5-1920).”
This intermixing of religion and politics should not be confused with politics of power. Rather, the purpose of Gandhian politics is to establish a moral-ethical state.
This is the reason why he further elaborated this meaning of politics on the eve of India’s independence.
It is clear that Gandhi never gave up politics. Instead, he emphasised on the moral foundation of politics. Unfortunately, Gandhi’s legacy was reduced to a virtuous monument, which gets its due share of attention on certain official days – 15 August, 2 October and 26 January. Seeing what has been happening all around with the Mahatma being projected as the rakshak of a particular religion, Gandhi would have said, no, not in my name.
(The writer is assistant professor, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, and Rajya Sabha Fellow 2015-2016. He can be reached @Ahmed1Hilal. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)
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