Zen and the art of electioneering via peripatetic idolatry

The rest of the world has been dithering over rebuilding the gigantic Buddha statues at Bamiyan destroyed by the Taliban in 2001, but BJP president Rajnath Singh remains cleareyed on the subject: a view he had first expressed when he was chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.

Given the competing priorities of his party when it comes to the rebuilding of destroyed monuments and the sentiments such intentions arouse in Mr Singh’s home state, his offer seems rather grandiose.

Also, reiterating it in Washington DC in a speech on Afghanistan just as US is preparing to withdraw is even more curious, especially as he wants the ersatz Buddhas to be built not in their original niche in the Hindu Kush, but in Kushinagar — some 2,000 km to the east.

How this would benefit Indo-Afghan ties is not immediately apparent, but Uttar Pradesh has already seen a lot of statue-related work in the recent past, so it certainly has the requisite local expertise. At the same time, an internationally-funded 500-ft-high seated Maitreya Buddha project is being shifted from Kushinagar to Bodh Gaya in Bihar after a familiar-sounding nine-year land-acquisition delay, much to the annoyance of the sizeable Buddhist Dalit community.

So, with elections around the corner, Mr Singh seeking a little divine intervention would not be amiss, obviously.