Note: This article was first published in sacw.net on October 7, 2004
- Subhash Gatade
INTRODUCTION
The last two decades of the 20th century have been witness to the coming to the fore of the careful and planned unfolding of what one sociologist calls 'spatial strategies of Hindutva'. Ranging from the then-obscure looking Ayodhya focussed place/site based strategy in the early 80s to the shameful use of many religious Yatras or the N number of Political Yatras it undertook, it has thus taken under its ambit places/sites, areas as well as routes to spread the homogenising and hegemonic agenda of Hindu Rashtra. No doubt barring a few disasters ( like the recent 'India Shining' Yatra) this strategy has paid rich dividends to the saffron combine.
What can be considered the key elements of this strategy? The 'success' of such a 'place/area/route' centred strategy hinges around basically two things: one the particular site/place should be 'invested with a unique particularity' and two, the 'other' should be implicated in it.
The movement for the 'liberation of Ram Janam Bhoomi' which ultimately led to the demolition of a four-century old year mosque and the biggest communal conflagration in post-independence India to the periodic raising of tempers at Mathura/'Krishnajanambhoomi' or Kashi Vishwanath Temple/Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi can be called the centrepiece of their activities in the 90s. But apart from focussing themselves on these 'sacred places' and further staking claim to 30,000 more similar shrines/mosques/mazars spread all over the country one was also witness to the playing out of the another type of 'place centred interventions' by the Hindutva forces which apparently had 'secular ' overtones. The controversy over the Hubli Idgah Maidan and the attempts to unfurl Tricolour over it had been a case in point.
Another type of such interventions can be categorised by looking at the changes wrought in at places/ sites which claim a syncretic tradition. The homogenising/hegemonising project of Hindutva has continued with its feverish attempts to destroy the composite character of such places. Baba Buddhan Giri is a case in point. While a few such places have really succumbed to the 'hinduisation' drive but at many places it has been difficult for them to break the communal unity of the broad masses of the people.
A third category of 'place centred' interventions has involved the gradual Brahminisation/Hindutvisation of temples, mutts which had remained outside the Brahminical fold and had their genesis in the revolts of the subalterns in the medieval times against the stranglehold of Brahminism. The way the historic Veershaiva movement started by the great Basava as a cultural rebellion is being slowly co-opted in the Hindutva fold or the way a section of the famous Nath movement is being co-opted in the overall gameplan of the Hindutva forces is for everyone to see.
Definitely the efforts of the Hindutva brigade which have cleverly made plans, provided space, built networks or started agitations supposedly to involve them in their grand project have played an important stimulating/catalytic role in their metamorphosis but these type of 'external' interventions cannot be said to be solely responsible for the ensuing changes. At times one has also been witness to the way the 'internal' dynamic also plays a role in their transformations. Apart from the rising political ambitions of the chief Guru whose influence is widespread, the internal squabbles among the mutts have also played a role in their transformations. At times the growing 'Sanskritisation' of the followers of a particular mutt has also rather forced the chieftains of the mutts to shed a few of its overtly nonBrahminical rituals or introduce a few Brahminical rituals.
This brief write-up focusses on the hinduisation/hindutvaisation of a famous mutt in eastern Uttar Pradesh which has the potential of impacting the regional politics in a big way.
GORAKHPUR: THE 'SAFFRON CITADEL'?
Adityanath, Date of birth: 5 June 1972, Political Experience: Won the Lok Sabha elections in 1998 and 1999 from Gorakhpur. In 1998, Adityanath was the youngest legislator in the 12th Lok Sabha at 26. The young yogi is the successor to former Hindu Maha Sabha president Mahant Avaidyanath at the Gorakhpur temple and is at the forefront of the Hindutva agenda. Education: B.Sc (Maths) from Garhwal University... Pet projects: Education and cow sheds. His office proudly claims that the MP started 18 educational institutions including a polytechnic; and Gorakhpur has 15 cow sheds... His office claims he checked smuggling of beef from his constituency to Bangladesh.
Meet Hindutva's Young Flag Bearer [Parul Gupta, Friday, April 09, 2004 Times of India]