Some enthusiastic supporters are using slogan "Har Har Modi…" I respect their enthusiasm but request not to use this slogan in the future.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 23, 2014
As this tweet shows, the popularity of Modi is reaching
heavenly proportions. Fans of the man have edited the popular Shiv bhakti
chant, “Har Har Mahadev” to reflect their support for Modi, a fact that left
the Gujarat CM a bit embarrassed.
To be fair to his supports, though, over-enthusiastic hero worship
in India of political leaders is not uncommon nor is deification unprecedented.
Dr Ambedkar had warned about this particular Indian trait in his famous Grammarof Anarchy speech delivered to the Constituent Assembly, on 25th November
1949:
“The second thing we
must do is to observe the caution which John Stuart Mill has given to all who
are interested in the maintenance of democracy, namely, not "to lay their
liberties at the feet of even a great man, or to trust him with power which
enable him to subvert their institutions". There is nothing wrong in being
grateful to great men who have rendered life-long services to the country. But there
are limits to gratefulness. As has been well said by the Irish Patriot Daniel
O'Connel, no man can be grateful at the cost of his honour, no woman can be
grateful at the cost of her chastity and no nation can be grateful at the cost
of its liberty. This caution is far more necessary in the case of India than in
the case of any other country. For in India, Bhakti or what may be called the
path of devotion or hero-worship, plays a part in its politics unequalled in
magnitude by the part it plays in the politics of any other country in the
world. Bhakti in religion may be a road to the salvation of the soul. But in
politics, Bhakti or hero-worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual
dictatorship.”
This was, at the time, largely interpreted to be a warning
against the sort of deification Gandhi had been an object of. As is well known,
Ambedkar did not take too kindly to Gandhi and his role in perpetuating the institution
of caste. The fact that Gandhi was deified in India must have made Ambedkar’s
role all the more difficult. The quasi-religious status of Gandhi can be
attested to by his honorific of Mahatma.
It literally means “great soul”, of course, but is a title used in Hinduism for
sages and saints (The Buddha, for example is also a Mahatma). Interestingly, much like Modi, Gandhi was uncomfortable with
this deification. In the absence of Twitter, this is what Gandhi wrote in his autobiography,
The Story of My Experiments with Truth:
“My experiments in the
political field are now known, not only to India, but to a certain extent to
the ‘civilized’ world. For me, they have not much value; and the title of
‘Mahatma’ that they have won for me has, therefore, even less. Often the title
has deeply pained me; and there is not a moment I can recall when it may be
said to have tickled me.”
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