Navigating National Highway 58 when returning to the capital from any city or town north of Ghaziabad or Meerut is tedious on any normal day and more so on weekends. At the end of the three-decade-old Meerut bypass, one is back into the even older road which, though double-laned, still runs through crowded hamlets and townships like Modinagar and Muradnagar.
Driving anywhere in western UP is harrowing, but last Sunday evening it was probably one of the worst that I experienced in almost half a century of travel on this highway.
As it turned out, a cacophony of electronic devotion and disco jagraata became audible. Slowly, its source, a truck, came into sight. But ahead of it a group of frenzied men were shaking every limb. The truck loaded with large speakers was decked up the way such vehicles are decorated for various religious festivals.
Over the years one has got used to seeing such a sight for a variety of religious festivals ranging from Durga Puja to Valmiki Jayanti and Moharram embracing every community.
Religious Processions
What changed was
the attire, idols or images and the accompanying music. Religious processions
have been competitive from early 20th century and taken out with the
purpose of cocking a snook at the ‘other’. In recent years, however, this has
become a more frequent phenomenon and more aggressive and cut-throat. The
frenzy of the largely male utsav on
NH-58 too was indisputably aimed at making a statement.
The delirious group began chanting slogans in praise of Lord Ganesha, the elephant-headed God. Why was Ganesh utsav being celebrated in western UP and what were people doing with small Ganesh idols in their hands?
The people were returning from the immersion ceremony at the Ganga Canal in Muradnagar. And there were numerous such trucks following. Ahead of us too there were numerous vehicles and their accompanying group waiting for their turn to reach the ghat and this explained our crawl. How and why has Lord Ganesh spread his influence in a region not known for celebrating this annual festival?
Displaying Religious Identity
The celebration of
the Ganesh festival in western UP, and may be many other regions, is not an
isolated development but must be seen in the context of the rising trend of
people displaying their religious identities in a more pronounced way with
every passing year. From a time when Indians were more conscious of their
sub-nationalities — Marathi, Gujarati, Bihari, Kannadiga, Telugu, etc. —
religion has become the primary basis of social identity.
As signalled by the enthusiasm of Ganesh tableaux and processions generated on NH-58, this phenomenon is no longer restricted to metros and big cities but is resonating loudly in the hinterland. The rise of this attitude is not community-specific but is prevalent among all religious communities.
While earlier people were first a Bengali or Malayali and a Hindu, Muslim or Christian later, now they are first a Hindu or Muslim and only subsequently a Bihari or a UP-wallah.
Politics of Prejudice
Not everybody who
affixes religious identity prior to displaying the regional characteristics is
a practitioner of communal politics or believes in such sentiment. Yet giving
primacy to religious identity makes them more open to being easy recipients of the
politics of hoisting prejudice. Barring rationalists, no one will grudge any
person for turning to religion. There will also be little opposition to
communities beginning to worship new deities. But when observance of festivals
acquires disruptive overtones, it becomes problematic.
In recent years, there has been a steady rise among religious minorities the world over, to emphasise their identity.
In the wake of the Punjab imbroglio in the 1980s and 1990s, India witnessed the rise of reaffirmation of the Sikh identity, and in recent years there has been a rising trend among Muslims of sporting beard in the distinctive style that has been adopted by the community. At least in India, there is a rising trend of sections of the majority community not losing a single opportunity to display their identity. This explains why western UP has witnessed the emergence of Ganesh festivals.
Majoritarian Hues in Ganesh Visarjan
- Ganesh utsav being
celebrated with fervour in hinterlands of western UP indicate emergence of
religion as a basis of identity.
- Religion has taken
over sub-nationalities and regional identity such as Marathi, Gujarati, Bihari,
etc.
- This phenomenon is
more pronounced in the hinterland as compared to the metros and big cities.
- Recent instances to be
blamed for rise in majoritarianism with Haryana govt testing samples of biryani
for beef and Amit Shah extending greetings on Onam.
State-Sponsored Majoritarianism
In every
community, public display of identity has accompanied rise of religious
orthodoxy and political sectarianism. On the one hand, this has been bolstered
by a wave of pan-Islamism, while on the other we have witnessed state
sponsorship of majoritarianism.
The latest instance of so-called biryani-testing in Haryana by a special task force to curb cow smuggling (as if there is no need for task forces to curb other crimes) and Amit Shah’s attempt to provide a religious twist to the essentially secular festival of Onam are just two instances of how the state or ruling party has given impetus to religious fervour.
From banning slaughter of even bulls and bullocks in Maharashtra to how controversially surya namaskar was included in the Yoga Day protocol, there are numerous instances of how state has promoted the majoritarian identity.
Spurt in Public Participation
It needs to be recalled
that during the tenure of the first NDA government there was a substantial
spurt in public participation in the annual sawan
kanwariya when Ganga water is collected in Haridwar and taken as an
offering to the Shiva temple nearest to a person’s home. This was particularly
noticeable in 2002 after the Gujarat riots polarised India sharply, exactly a
decade after the demolition of the Babri Masjid.
At that time, investigations by journalists revealed that the surge of interest had a direct correlation with facilities made available for the kanwariyas. All along NH-58 and other highways in north India, numerous tent shelters were set up where the so-called pilgrims were provided place to sleep and food to eat. These facilities were funded by businesses sympathetic to the regime and often Bajrang Dal activists acted as volunteers.
Orthodoxy and Animosity
There were also several kanwariyas who confessed that the promise of the chillum had motivated them to participate in the festival.
The world over, various forms of
enticements have been used to attract people to action driven by orthodoxy and
animosity towards the ‘other’. Public display of religious identity is the
first step towards displaying hostility towards other communities because
animosity cannot be sustained without fortifying community sentiment.
Few would have resented the traffic holdup on NH-58 even if it had indeed been an instance of mass religiosity. But such programmes are primarily aimed at harnessing the energy of the lumpen youth and eventually keep it as a standby force for use during inter-community conflicts. Increasingly, public participation in religious festival is an indication of growing pietism, but unfortunately this religious zeal is not inward looking but dressed up for aggressive combat.
(The writer is an author and journalist based in Delhi. His most recent books are ‘Sikhs: The Untold Agony of 1984’ and ‘Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times’. He can be reached at @NilanjanUdwin)
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