In a state that is both, highly politicised and polarised, what is the best way to understand the co-relation of religion and politics? Knowing the Rat God Dinkan and meeting Dinkoists could be one.
Inside the busy by-lanes of Thiruvanathpuram city, I meet a group of Dinkoists, aka believers of the Dinkan God.
Critics may call it a spoof religion, moderates may call it a campaign or a movement but Dinkoists can go many extra miles to explain how valid it is to worship a comic ‘character’ and look at the world and politics from a different angle.
One of the earliest superhero comic characters, in India, Dinkan was created by story writer N Somashekharan in 1983. Created for the children’s magazine Balamangalam as an edutainment character, Dinkan borrowed a few traits from the Superman and was admired both by children and adults.
With political parties hijacking the religion and supporting madness in the name of God, we choose to be the followers of a God that is both rational and extremely scientific. A Dinkan God doesn’t ban beef and believes in making the life easy for elephants by replacing them with JCB machines in temple festivals.JalJith Thottoli, A Dinkan
Dinkoism is a religion and a social movement that emerged and evolved on social media through different groups and individuals. Modern day secular Keralites use Dinkan God to mock organised religion and religious intolerance.
Dinkoists have led many a serious protests against people who mock Dinkoism or laugh at its satire. The Rat God is even protected by a ‘Mooshikasena’ a ‘Rat Army’ that can go to any extent against people who, “hurt their religious sentiments.”
Political parties want us to vote on the basis of religion and caste, Dinkans believe religion should begin and end with faith, not crossing over rationality. We believe that each God is as important as the Rat God Dinkan, so the candidates should be chosen on the basis of performance and not religion.Premshankar, A Dinkan
In the triangular fight of United Democratic Front vs Left Democratic Front vs Bhartiya Janta Party in Kerala, the Dinkans are yet to form a consensus on whom to vote for, but they do have the formula to supersede religion led politics.
In the current scenario in Kerala, none of the candidates have proved to be ideal, rational or scientific. We have thus decided to vote for the lesser evil – a candidate that best represents welfare and equality leaving aside the religious identity.Shamseer, A Dinkan
Dinkans are not the only propounders of a satirical religion. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster that believes in the noodle God is already viral in the west and on the internet. It recently found the status of a recognised religion in North America and Netherlands. The Pastafarians as they are called are growing in number, aspiring to shape up a political movement.
In India, before Dinkans take over the mainstream space and enter formal politics, they are trying to ‘reset’ the rules of both religion and politics.
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