Modi and Rahul lock horns over Hinduism

A new side of Congress president Rahul Gandhi came on view when he began visiting Hindu shrines in Gujarat while campaigning for the Assembly elections last year and subsequently temple-hopped in Karnataka earlier this year while on the stump in the state. He then went on a pilgrimage to Kailash-Mansarovar, deemed the abode of Lord Shiva, trekking high in the Himalayas on a thanksgiving trip after surviving a near air disaster in Karnataka.

And these days the Congress leader taunts Prime Minister Narendra Modi who, according to Mr Gandhi, may be a master of Hindutva politics but is innocent of even the basics of Hinduism, such as the teaching of the sacred text Gita, a fount of Hindu philosophy with which knowledgeable Hindus are expected to be acquainted.

Mr Modi and his party are definitely not amused, and have wondered aloud from where the Congress and its leaders have acquired their knowledge about Hinduism. Sushma Swaraj, assuming a posture of affront, has wondered how Mr Gandhi, of all people, could dare to lecture the BJP on Hinduism.

That’s just the rub. Leave alone Mr Gandhi, who we have on the authority of writer and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor is well versed in the philosophical aspects of Hinduism, and is even capable of engaging in disputations over it, most educated Hindus may be able to challenge the BJP-RSS  leadership on the foundational aspects of Hinduism.

The BJP-RSS is not given to piety or spreading the light of Hindu philosophy. Its endeavour is Hindutva, which is playing politics behind the smokescreen of religion.

This is a venture to mobilise the mass of Hindu voters in the name of religion in order to further the BJP’s electoral prospects.

This crucial separation is what Mr Gandhi evidently seeks to emphasise. But the question has been raised if this is the best way to advance the principles of his party.

It is no doubt important to advertise the bifurcation, for many gullible people think the BJP will look after “Hindu interests” — as yet undefined. To do so is, then, clearly a desirable political act. But the issue really turns on whether a leading political figure like Mr Gandhi, whose party and he himself avow the credo of secularism, should make religiosity overt by visiting temples.

The post-Atal Behari Vajpayee BJP, while grabbing the so-called “Hindu” mantle, has attempted to denounce the Congress as denigrating Hinduism by ignoring it while cosseting religious minorities.

The Congress’ A.K. Antony committee report had dilated on this. Mr Gandhi appears to be paying heed to this report for tactical and defensive reasons, expectedly rattling the BJP and upsetting high-minded liberals. But this cannot be construed as converting the Congress into a Hindutva party.