Appeasing Gods to win wars is a practice as old as time
Ancient Egyptians, Romans, Aztecs, Celts- societies, spread across the continents, over centuries have knocked on God’s door to ask for help, to get work done
And if the folktales, the stories and the rumours are to be believed, now and then Gods have answered the door for their favourites
This practice of divine appeasement, for some time now, has been the norm in Uttar Pradesh’s politics
For example, it is without contention, that a place like Ayodhya, the seat of spirituality on the banks of the Saryu river is talked about more for its political importance than theological reasons
Since the 1980s, Ayodhya has remained a pivot in UP politics and polls. For the BJP, since its resolution in 1989 to construct a Ram Mandir at the site of Babri Masjid, Ayodhya remained the focal point of its poll campaigns in the years after the Babri Masjid demolition. It slipped into a footnote in the late 2000s as the law of diminishing returns kicked in
But with the Supreme Court ruling in favour of the Ram Mandir in November 2019, Ayodhya has again occupied the pride of place in not just BJP's, but every political party's political scheme of things in the run-up to the UP elections
Almost all parties have used the holy city as a launch pad of sorts for their campaign for the upcoming state polls
Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself performed the ‘bhoomi pujan’ on August 5, 2020 for the Ram temple
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath frequently visits the holy town and has taken the Dussehra and Diwali celebrations to a whole new level in his tenure. From inviting foreign dignitaries to Guinness world record by lighting over 6 lakh lamps on the banks of Saryu, Yogi has done his fair share of appeasing the Gods
Not to be left behind in the race, opposition parties, too, are doing their political parikrama
Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party, hoping to repeat its 2007 success by harnessing its ‘Dalits-Brahmins’ formula, began its ‘Brahmin Sammelan’ from Ayodhya in July. Party's Brahmin face Satish Chandra Misra started the party’s campaign by offering prayers at the Ram Janmabhoomi
The Samajwadi Party too used Ayodhya to launch its campaign with state unit chief Naresh Uttam participating in ‘khet bachaao, rozgaar bachaao‘ event on September 3. Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also said he would visit the temple with his family after its opens for public.
The Congress, that never associated itself with the cause of the Ram Mandir, changed its stance after the Supreme Court’s verdict. Ahead of the bhoomi pujan by the PM, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi, called the laying of foundation a "celebration of national unity".
Even the new entrants in the UP battleground are taking the Ayodhya route to launch their political fortunes
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi began his party’s campaign with a public meeting at Rasulabad in Ayodhya on September 7. The venue was strategically chosen as it is near Dhannipur where a mosque is coming up as per the apex court judgement
AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh offered special prayers at the Ram Janmabhoomi and Hanumangarhi temple in Ayodhya as they launched the party's campaign for the 2022 polls
It isn’t just Ayodhya though. Political pilgrims have also touched PM’s parliamentary constituency and another holy site Varanasi
All this worshipping has made the opposition a target for accusations of ‘soft hindutva’
But practising religion is not communalism. Targeting minorities by using religion as a crutch, excluding them from an inclusive national narrative, that fits more into the definition of communalism
Moreover, as long as constitutional morality prevails, asking the Gods for electoral favours does not diminish democratic stoutness
Whether this practice of divine appeasement stems from the abundance of religion in the state, or the abundance is maintained through the practice, is a topic for philosophical debate
But what isn’t a debate, is the obvious political strategy behind the religious stunts
The temple-runs and holy-site hopping is not for the Gods but for the voters
When the political parties ask the voters to vote in the name of their Gods, the voters comply
But if the manifesto promises go kaput, the governance dilapidates or the policies fail - who is to be held accountable?
The parties, the voters or the Gods?
