UP government’s message is disturbing, divisive

Has Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath found a new way to usher in ‘Hindu Rashtra’ in India’s most-populous state? This is reflected in an official circular his government issued to each of the 75 District Magistrates (DMs) as well as divisional commissioners. The circular directs these officials to organise special ‘Akhand Ramayan Paath’ on the occasion of ‘Ashtami’ and Ram Navami during the Navratri festival between March 22 and March 30.

While successive governments have provided administrative and logistic support to religious or cultural events, this is for the first time a government has formally asked the DMs to organise it.

What evidently reflects the intent of the government to hold the Hindutva baton is the language of the circular that cites how ‘the ‘Chaitra Navratra’ is regarded as the fundamental basis of purity of the soul and nirvana’. It goes on to add, ‘nine forms of Goddess Durga are worshipped during this festival, which is highlighted in Vedas as well as Puranas; as such cultural and religious events have to be organised in the state’.

The DMs will have to not only identify temples where the event is to be organised, but they are also expected to select artistes for putting up performances. Significantly, Rs 100,000 has been allocated from the state exchequer for each of the districts, while the DMs have been asked to use their local resources to meet any additional requirements.

While two officers of the Cultural Affairs Department have been made nodal officers to co-ordinate at the state level, the Information Department has been asked to ensure wide publicity for each of the events at the district level as well as at the tehsil and block levels.

In the six years he has been Chief Minister, the saffron-clad-sadhu-turned politician has left no stone unturned to push a Hindutva agenda, and this is perhaps the most blatant step he has taken so far. He is the only Chief Minister to also hold charge of a Hindu monastery (Gorakhnath mutt), which has a large following not only within India, the but even in Nepal.

Be it renaming towns referring to their Islamic past, or selective targeting Muslims in pursuance of what appears to be the UP police’s unofficial ‘encounter policy’ or the State’s aggressive bulldozer drives against unauthorised construction, the Muslims are being unfairly pushed by the State. Such moves have also polarised the Hindu vote, which clearly gave the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) huge electoral dividends.

The formal involvement of the State in organising and carrying out a ritualistic, religious function seems to be adding a new chapter to the BJP’s and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s Hindutva agenda. Such moves are part of their ideological design to usher in a ‘Hindu Rashtra’.

An argument, put forward by those who support the Adityanath government’s decision, is that previous governments (by the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party, and even the Congress) have used exchequer funds to host roza iftars during Ramzaan. While iftars have a religious connotation to it, it is more of a secular gathering involving people from all faiths. The same cannot be said about the Navratri events.

In any case, even if iftar is accepted as a religious event, two wrongs do not make a right.

Ironically, no political party has shown the courage to question the Adityanath government’s direct involvement in a religious event of this scale. While welcoming the move, Leader of Opposition in UP Assembly and SP President Akhilesh Yadav said that the amount allotted was paltry, and Rs 10 crore must be allotted for it, and the same done during other religious festivals. Was he being sarcastic?

The message sent by the state government in formalising the organising and running of a religious event is disturbing at best, divisive at worse.

(Sharat Pradhan is a Lucknow-based journalist and author.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.