08 November 2012, 10:24 AM IST
I am not sure whether this is an Indian trait or a political trait. Yet nowhere is this trait more incorrigibly present than in our motherland. This dastardly habit of our political leaders to seek association and hence glorification through larger than life souls. This yearning yet degrading pilgrimage for false pedestals through quasi religious cum political workshops
Latest, but not last in this list has been BJP president Nitin Gadkari's comments on the IQ level of Swami Vivekananda and Dawood Ibrahim. Let us revisit this gentleman's exact statements to get an exact idea of the inept, disconnected staggering.
"As per psychology, if we can compare the IQ level of Swami Vivekananda and that of Dawhood Ibrahim, then it could have been the same. But Vivekananda used it in nation building, brotherhood and spiritualism, while Dawood used that in excelling in crime world,' he was reported to have said in that speech. The idiotic insensibility of the concept apart, what strikes one instantly is the audacity to bring a highly revered personality on one stage with a politically hunted individual.
I won't call it an inflammable comment, for the very idea of comparing intelligent quotients questions both the emotional and the intelligent quotient of the commentator himself. What is alarming is that it isn't a once in a blue moon kind of a statement. This is becoming a pattern, long adopted by our illustrious political leaders. I won't call it an atrophied view. For behind this attractive, religious edifice, is a well designed political motif to tickle the popular sentiment. And the idea to highlight and hijack Swami Vivekananda's universal spiritualism into its own rustic homebred thought process is a perfect political ploy, howsoever silly, inane and pathetic it may sound.
Vivekananda has now become easy bait. A phenomenal personality, famously and variously called as 'cyclonic Hindoo' or the 'warrior prophet' it has become common hearsay that Swamiji's words strike almost every cord of human existence. But what makes Swamiji maddeningly enticing is his continued appeal to the contemporary world. From President Obama's open confession of Swamiji's influence on his life to BBC Radio 4's open eulogy in their famous biography series, it is obvious that this personality has transcended time.
And Narendra Modi has been playing this to perfection. From choosing to launch his election yatra on the very date of Swamiji's famed Chicago address to planting the statue of the monk atop his own vehicle, he has shuffled his cards shamelessly well. Little does he realize (or for all practical purposes he does realize) that his and his party's ideologies are not only different but in many areas in sharp contrast to the revered monk's message to the world. Swamiji's preaching of universal humanity and religious harmony is anything but close to the bogus bigotry that this modern day political messiahs indulge.
Sadly this hypocritical trait will continue. This temptation to drag larger than life souls outside their orbit…this greed to advertize and sell them as commercial products for instant profit. Unless of course, we fathom the shallowness of this circus and learn to trash the clownish insensibilities of its players.
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