So there will finally be a Ram temple at Ayodhya. Based on its plans, the plans for the Central Vista in Delhi, and the extant BJP headquarters, the governing party is evolving its own architectural stamp. You could call it Hindutva Brutalist—big, and ugly, and large, and bullying, and did I mention big? It reflects the RSS-BJP’s political, cultural and administrative style, technically termed ‘We’re in charge around here, and we aren’t nice about it.’
I didn’t watch the temple ground-breaking ceremony; gods leave me cold, especially the human ones made up entirely of snake oil and television. Over the top coverage was predictable evidence that the event was one more brick in the even larger shrine that Mr Modi is building to himself. I did see a print photo of him prostrated full-length before the idol of Ram. It reminded me of a six-year-old photo of him touching his head to the steps of Parliament, and a one-year-old photo of him touching his forehead to the Indian Constitution. It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to grasp that anything he treats with suspicious humility is a thing he means to hollow out and pervert in his quest for absolute power.
Modi has prostrated himself before the steps of parliament, a copy of the constitution, and now the idol of Ram in Ayodhya. Photos: PTI/Twitter
And his power is indeed nearing absolute, now that much of the media serves as the horses on his chariot, now that the Election Commission of India is so willing to overlook his and his party’s violations of ECI rules; and now that courts so often return judgments that turn out to be favourable to his cause—for example in awarding the temple property to the party who committed and/or supported a crime there; for example in repeatedly putting off hearings related to the forceful takeover and dismemberment of Jammu and Kashmir; for example in propping up long and poorly explained detentions of anti-CAA-NRC protestors and activists.
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Picking August 5 for the temple ceremony did not erase the fact that it was also the first anniversary of the democratic death of J&K—it deliberately highlighted it, in the most menacing way possible. It was a reminder to the Muslims of India that Hindutva is in charge, and that they should know their place in the new order. The country cheered Modi’s repression of Muslims in J&K, and silently accepted the verdict on Ayodhya. What more could Hindutva possibly want?
If you’re asking, you haven’t met Hindutva. It is a bottomless hole of insecurity and violent retaliation, and after the bhoomi pujan ceremony, #KashiMathuraBakiHai were trending on Twitter. It’s no longer a threat, it’s a promise.
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M.S. Golwalkar, the venomous philosophical ‘guruji’ of the RSS, would have been delighted to see his ideal Hindu Rashtra coming along so nicely. He envisioned a Hindu theocracy in which religion is twinned with power, and veneration trumps democracy. God is represented by a necessarily powerful clergy; government and clergy sit at the top of the pyramid; the rest know their various places and obey. Is it any surprise how much effort Modi puts into associating himself with religion and divinity, even as he claims to be the servant of the Constitution?
If you think I’m being far-fetched, consider that there is a petition in the Supreme Court demanding that the press not be allowed to hurt the sentiments and dignity of saints, and of religious and political organisations. The petitioner wants the Central government to frame a set of regulatory guidelines for the media. I wonder whether the Modi government will want to shield religion and power from scrutiny, don’t you?
Go back to that photo of Modi lying full length before Ram, and remember that it is quite clear who is serving whom.
Mitali Saran is an independent writer and columnist based in Delhi.