Temples and the redundancy of it all - Javed Akhtar on religion
Free thinkers have loathed the divides religion has created, just the way Javed Akhtar in his speech reprimanded.
Religion- everything to do with it- whether its scriptures, literature, art or pilgrimages, all of these have always made for active subjects to court a controversy. Millions have died and millions still continue to believe. With the watershed 2014 elections coming up, the Congress is laying its hands on whatever reforms it can and doing everything possible to correct the many scams of the past few years. And BJP, with its PM candidate, Narendra Modi, is flying high, trying to woo the youth, sell the Gujarat success to assert that we need an investor friendly environment and while doing that, also mixing some of the "temple talk" while waving the Hindutva flag.
An example to that was Modi's recent comment of "Devalay se pehle shivalay" where he asserted on the fact that people in the country spend hundreds on building temples but the villages that have so many temples don't even have decent toilets. He also mentioned that his image as a Hindutva leader does not allow him to make such a comment but he is daring to do so.
This comment was received with criticism from all the corners. Digvijay Singh said the BJP and RSS is raking up the temple issue for political reasons. Manishankar Aiyar commented that Modi is good at constructing toilets and its better if he concentrates on constructing toilets and not disturb communal peace. Meanwhile VHP leader Pravin Togadia slammed Modi on these comments and said this was an insult to the Hindu society. While battling criticism from all sides is not new for Modi, this comment has garnered the hype it has due to the words "devalay" and Hindutva so prominently used.
Known to be a serene place where people can attempt to connect with their inner self, temples have been used forever to forward political ambitions and have resulted in catastrophic implications. Lyricist Javed Akhtar, at a book launch of Satyapal Singh's Urdu translation of his novel "Talash Insaan Ki", spoke about the same issue with a different take. He said, "We think religion can change a man. Well, it hasn't happened yet. Take a map of the world and mark the places where there is most amount of corruption, brutality, injustice. Now take another map and mark the places where religion is practiced most. The marks will end up being the same." He also said that religion has nothing to do with morality and a man can change only through his conscious.
Free thinkers all over the world have loathed the divides religion has created, just the way Javed Akhtar in his speech reprimanded. While the world and the nation continues to bear witness to war and bloodshed on the name of religion, politicians are gung-ho to leverage from it. And while religion has always been a complex, layered issue that cannot be ignored, keeping in mind the demographics and formation of our society, is it fair to play vote bank politics on the basis of an instigation of just those sentiments?
Javed Akhtar may have spoken generically and not targeted a singular entity, but his comments make us think about the redundancy of it all. Truth of the matter is, religion is an integral part of our daily lives, more so of our politician's lives. Cashing in on those beliefs may draw certain number of votes, but in the long run, these votes will reassure the parties that these sentiments are the easy, fall back option like they have always been; helping them stray from the real issues of the democracy today. In the circumstances of grave economic paralysis, a handicap currency and inflation shooting through the roof, a visit to a temple could be a simple attempt towards solitude, not a parliament seat or worse so, a death wish.