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Hum doobenge, BJP ko saath lekar

On 17 May, Vishwa Hindu Parishad working president Ashok Singhal announced the hallowed affiliation's intention of constructing a Shakti Peeth (seat of divine power) in the vicinity of the Pokhran area in order to "immortalise" India's nuclear tests. Mr Singhal admitted that the idea had emanated from Hindu sadhus and religious leaders. Once the exact location for the peeth was decided, holy water would be brought from various "shakti kendras" in the country for the consecration ceremony, and the name of the new peeth would be decided by the sadhus.

Along with these gems, Mr Singhal said that the peeth would symbolise "the resurgence of India as a powerful nation," and that it was also significant that the detonations coincided with Buddha Purnima, as Buddhism, along with Hinduism, was among the few non- aggressive religions in the world. "India intends to be powerful in the interest of world peace, in keeping with the preachings of Lord Buddha," Mr Singhal said. He also hinted that religious fairs would be organised at the place on Buddha Purnima.

Normally, your favourite fundie does not pay much heed to the effluvium that regularly spews from this august body. You know how it is in joint-parivars -- saner members tend to humour the idiot child... As my pal Gopal Saraswat said vis-a-vis the peeth, "It's too stupid to either support or oppose. Remember Ayn Rand said, 'Although we're atheists, we'd be embarrassed to be crusading against God'." So I let it be... For a while.

But then, the president of the Maharashtra unit of the VHP, one Ashok Chowgule, got his mug-shot into the edit page of The Sunday Times and held forth on the cockamamie scheme. To wit, "To commemorate the nuclear tests and in consonance with the Hindu tradition, the VHP plans to construct a Shakti Peeth at Pokhran. The objective is to provide an ocular reminder of an event which established to the world that India could no longer be taken for granted. Even though many intellectuals are upset, a vast majority of the people of the country fully support the nuclear tests. It is heartening that many foreigners have been able to see through the virulent anti-India propaganda that has been going on, and have appreciated the Indian viewpoint."

Question: Are nuclear tests -- a manifestation of one of the many arms of a country's defence system -- something to be "commemorated" and "immortalised"? Did we land on Jupiter? Is it some great scientific breakthrough that nobody else has attempted or succeeded at? Hell, it isn't even as, er... path-breaking as the Viagra!

Question: How does the commemoration come into consonance with Hindu tradition? May we, pretty please, have some instances of such commemorations from ancient and modern Hindustan? The only peeths I've heard about have everything to do with divinity!

Question: Have our nuclear tests indeed established to the world that India can no longer be taken for granted? Have we yet been allowed into the exclusive Nuclear Club...? When did we "resurge" into a "powerful nation"? We're still struggling with our dang Budget!

Question: What does the foreigner's new pro-India stance have to do with the damn peeth? Will those good vibes also to be "felt" at the place?

Question: How does the Indian Hindu, Mosie or Xtian's euphoria about India's having nuclear weapons translate into his having kittens over a Hindu religious monument to the scientific blasts? And don't slide by that one: Holy waters brought from "shakti kendras" equals Hindu rites.

What next, a shuddhikaran of Dr A P J Kalam...?

Mr Chowgule continues, "Hinduism is a cultural and philosophical concept. Hindus see a Peeth in the same context. A Peeth is not so much a place of worship, but one where inspiration is sought. We will remember not only the event, but the thousands of people who made it possible. It is true that rituals are undertaken at a Peeth. But these rituals are a small part of the visit to the Peeth, and they do not have the same significance as in the Semitic religions. The Peeth will be the same as a memorial that exist in the western countries. However, the term memorial does not convey the same meaning to most Indians as a Peeth does. We have to project our ideas in our own idiom."

Oh gawd. These are the constituents of the Sangh Parivar to which belongs the BJP...

Yes, yes, we know Hinduism is a cultural and philosophical concept -- that's about all we've heard this last half a century. I am a Hindu, a rabid one at that -- but I wouldn't draw an atom of inspiration from a domed platform set amidst radioactive sands. If anything, it would remind me of the memorials of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Reminders of what havoc man can wrought upon man.

Whether India needs them or not, whether I support nuclearisation or not, there's no denying that nuclear weapons are the most horrible weapons of mass destruction. To keep the balance of power, to ward of the Khans and Lings, fine, we've had to acquire them. But to raise them to a divine omnipotence is the most ridiculous and dangerous notion to come forth in modern times. Whether Semitic or Vedic, rituals on a "holy" ground are precisely that -- rituals for homage. Objects of annihilation *cannot* be added to the pantheon. Radioactive sand *cannot* be turned into an object of worship.

With nuclear power must come sense and humility: The only thing to do is quietly sweep the radioactivity under, and look ahead to a negotiating, diplomatic future. But I guess that's too much to expect from this crazed shaft of the Sangh Parivar.

Mr Chowgule continues, "The objections for the construction of the Shakti Peeth can be summarised as follows:
1. The establishment of the Shakti Peeth has converted the tests into a religious event.
2. Instead of a Peeth, the money should be used for building schools, drinking water supply facilities, etc.
3. As the VHP is undertaking the project, it means that the Sangh has 'hijacked' the nuclear tests for propagating its own agenda."

A one-eyed retarded child would be able to see that the objections (from the "upset intellectuals", of course) are valid:
1. Since the idea of the peeth comes from sadhus and religious leaders (Hindu, needless to add) -- and not politicians and scientists -- how can the tests escape the cachet of being religious in nature? Why else would "holy water" be brought for a consecration ceremony?
2. If not elsewhere, the money would be better used to benefit the Rajasthani citizens around Khetolai who left their homes and villages for the nuclear tests.
3. The VHP *is* a religious organisation and has NO business to meddle in the affairs of India's defence and security matters -- and -- its sensitive testing areas. By building a peeth, it is propagating a Hindu agenda in an area where none is required. This is not nationalistic Hindutva. This is the lading of a presumptive Hinduism on a secular facet of routine governance.

Then if you want to see a real conundrum, Mr Chowgule obliges: "It cannot be denied that there is an urgent need for schools, drinking water, etc. But the expenditure in the Peeth will be an infinitesimally small part of the expenditure required in these areas. Moreover, this argument is a clear admission that the country has failed in attending to the basic needs of the people... Do they (other political parties) apply the same standards when they constructed monuments for their own heroes, many with direct government support? The VHP will not seek such support. In the same way that the Somnath Temple was reconstructed, the VHP will once again appeal to the people... The construction of the Peeth and development projects are not either/or issues."

Hmmm... First, the nitwit admits to the urgent need for facilities; then blames the lack on the Congress which has ruled for much of the 50 years; then castigates them for constructing monuments for their heroes -- and then justifies his own organisation for embarking on a similar travesty... Yech. Folks, be ready: Instead of the 867th statue of Rajiv Gandhi and the umpteenth Raj Ghat, we can now expect various peeths and the like instead...

Look, a country's like a body: You have to cloathe it and feed it and clean it and exercise it and rest it: None of these essential acts are options. When pinkos say, Food first, arms never, it's like saying eat first, in the nude. But *where* does this peeth enter the scheme of the well-being of a country...? What is the justification for it -- national pride? But the blasts have already provided that! The VHP better stick to its ecclesiastical territories of Ayodhya, Mathura and Kashi... Or it's going to be a case of Sanam, hum doobenge, BJP ko saath lekar...

Any sane person who knows that there's indeed an "urgent need for schools, drinking water, etc" would at least blush before appealing to these same hapless people for chanda in the name of a shrine for a nuke test... When other political parties constructed monuments for their heroes, with direct government support, sure, they used the tax-payer's money -- wrong, but affordable yet. How does the VHP propose to fund the peeth? NRI Private "tax- free" contributions? I say, bring on the tax-men. These nutters must be stopped.

This country thrives on dhong-baazi. In the South, there are temples for starlets; in the North, annual dukh-melas at Raj Ghat; now at Pokhran, a jatra for the H-bomb... It all makes me SICK. The worst of it is, it would require at least 10 Yerawada mental asylums to keep all these VHP chappies closetted -- let's first have an infrastructure for that.

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