Everyday myths
As the election fever intensifies, political parties will start banking on mythology to score brownie points for themselves.
By ET Bureau |
Now when the Gita has already been brought in, Sita won���t be far behind. No, this is not the old Hindi film that���s being discussed, we are, of course, talking of the political film that is playing to a full house in the whole country. As the election fever intensifies, political parties will start banking on mythology to score brownie points for themselves.
Priyanka Gandhi has spoken about the Gita, BJP may speak about Sita, DMK about Ram (with or without the sethu) and the Left may keep silent. Marx and Lenin still haven���t become mythical figures yet but are on their way. But all this moral talk is nothing but hogwash. A statue of Chaplin, which was still on the drawing board, got the BJP cadre agitated because the comedian was a ���Christian���. Well, they could have settled for Johnny Walker, the only Indian comedian to have a cult status like Chaplin. But his religion in spite of his cachet would have come in the way.
The Sita-Gita-Jesus brigade doesn���t believe in anything but bilge, and that���s what Indian politics is all about these days. And this ballistic brigade will soon see its numbers rise because Marx and Ambedkar are about to join the pantheon. If not in this election, surely the next. And, who knows, Kanshi Ram too, if Mayawati becomes the prime minister.
Today, if they ask you to read Valmiki���s Ramayana, tomorrow they will tell you to go through Kanshi Ram���s Dalitsmriti. In India, yesterday becomes today���s mythology. And the Indian myth-making process gets sustenance from cinema and TV which are thematically dead or dying. Today the media, too, will talk about Gita and church meddling but tomorrow, when Sita comes into the picture, Gita will be happily tossed out of the pages.
Back in the crowded confines of history it will stay till someone scoops it up again. Myths are easy to form in this country. Making lore, as someone said, is an easy chore!
Priyanka Gandhi has spoken about the Gita, BJP may speak about Sita, DMK about Ram (with or without the sethu) and the Left may keep silent. Marx and Lenin still haven���t become mythical figures yet but are on their way. But all this moral talk is nothing but hogwash. A statue of Chaplin, which was still on the drawing board, got the BJP cadre agitated because the comedian was a ���Christian���. Well, they could have settled for Johnny Walker, the only Indian comedian to have a cult status like Chaplin. But his religion in spite of his cachet would have come in the way.
The Sita-Gita-Jesus brigade doesn���t believe in anything but bilge, and that���s what Indian politics is all about these days. And this ballistic brigade will soon see its numbers rise because Marx and Ambedkar are about to join the pantheon. If not in this election, surely the next. And, who knows, Kanshi Ram too, if Mayawati becomes the prime minister.
Today, if they ask you to read Valmiki���s Ramayana, tomorrow they will tell you to go through Kanshi Ram���s Dalitsmriti. In India, yesterday becomes today���s mythology. And the Indian myth-making process gets sustenance from cinema and TV which are thematically dead or dying. Today the media, too, will talk about Gita and church meddling but tomorrow, when Sita comes into the picture, Gita will be happily tossed out of the pages.
Back in the crowded confines of history it will stay till someone scoops it up again. Myths are easy to form in this country. Making lore, as someone said, is an easy chore!
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