Strategic use of religious festivals for promoting Hindutva by highlighting deities for political end
The RSS combine’s agenda of establishing a Hindu Rashtra has been advanced through various mechanisms, including the strategic use of religious festivals. These occasions have increasingly become platforms for promoting its ideology. Certain deities are also being highlighted for political messaging, which has become a significant trend in recent times.
The recently held Kumbh was a grand spectacle, transformed into a national event rather than just a religious gathering. One major shift in this year’s Kumbh was its aggressive marketing as a cultural and developmental showcase. It was promoted as “The Greatest Show on Earth” for Hinduism. On such occasions, organizing accommodation, sanitation, and transportation for the devotees is typically the responsibility of the state. However, this time, the state was deeply involved not only in logistics but also in organizing the event itself. Associates of the ruling party—such as the VHP, Dharma Sansads (Religious Parliaments), and individual sants and sadhus—took the lead in propagating elements of the Hindu nationalist agenda, including spreading hatred towards Muslims during this congregation.
While the spiritual significance of Kumbh remains deeply valued by devotees, the overt politicization of the event was particularly notable this time. Although Kumbh has been organized many times in history, this edition became a prominent ground for advancing the Hindutva agenda. Despite inadequate crowd management, the state government had extensively advertised the event and invited devotees in large numbers. Crores of rupees must have been spent on this effort.
One disturbing feature of the event was the boycott of Muslim traders, who were prevented from setting up stalls and shops. Various justifications were offered for this exclusion, one of the most pernicious being a false claim by Swami Avimukteshwaranand, who stated that Muslims spit in food. Many such misleading videos circulated on social media. Ironically, during the chaos of stampedes, Muslims opened their mosques and organized food relief for desperate victims. Historically, during the Mughal period, Muslim rulers contributed to Kumbh’s infrastructure: they built ghats (riverbanks for bathing) and toilets to facilitate the pilgrimage. Historian Heramb Chaturvedi notes that Emperor Akbar even appointed two officers to oversee the arrangements for Kumbh.
This time, the area was covered with hoardings of Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath. A large section was reserved for VIPs, leading to overcrowding and stampedes, with several fatalities reported. Poor transport arrangements further exacerbated the crisis, including deaths due to a stampede at New Delhi Railway Station.
In a shocking statement, the controversial Swami Dhirendra Shastri, whom Mr. Narendra Modi refers to as his "younger brother," claimed that those who died in the stampedes had attained moksha (liberation). Meanwhile, the quality of water in the river reached alarming levels, with E. coli and high levels of excreta contaminating the water. When questioned about the poor water quality and the deaths, the Chief Minister crudely responded that "pigs are seeing the dirt, and vultures are counting the dead."
For the VHP, Kumbh served as a golden opportunity. Their Margdarshak Mandal meetings were marked by venomous speeches targeting Muslims. Familiar propaganda themes resurfaced—allegations of Muslim overpopulation, infiltration from Bangladesh, and the need for cow protection were repeated ad nauseam. Hate-mongers like Sadhvi Ritambhara, Praveen Togadia, and Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati had a field day, delivering incendiary speeches to large, receptive audiences. The BJP has effectively mobilized sadhus for its political goals, with these events gaining wide publicity—often at state expense.
At the same time, saffron-clad leaders reiterated demands for reclaiming Kashi and Mathura, claiming that 1,860 temples had been “researched” and needed to be “restored.” Demands were also made for the closure of madrassas and the conversion of English-medium schools into Gurukuls, with the vision of building a “Hindu World.”
In their 2024 book, Irfan Engineer and Neha Dabhade draw attention to how religious festivals have increasingly been used to instigate violence. Traditionally, festivals were joyful social occasions that transcended religious lines. However, a new trend has emerged: processions during Hindu festivals often deliberately pass through Muslim-majority areas, where they replace green flags on mosques with saffron ones, dance with swords, and chant hateful slogans against Muslims. Engineer and Dabhade point out that the Ram Navami processions in particular saw a rise in violence in 2022 and 2023. Incidents occurred in Howrah and Hooghly (2023), Sambhaji Nagar (2023), Vadodara (2023), Bihar Sharif and Sasaram (2023), Khargone (2022), Himmat Nagar and Khambhat (2022), and Lohardagga (2022).
Engineer concludes:
"Even a small group of Hindu nationalists masquerading as a ‘religious procession’ could insist on passing through minority-inhabited areas and provoke some youth by using political and abusive slogans and playing violent songs and music—hoping that, in reaction, a stone would be thrown at them. The state would then do the rest by arresting a large number of minorities and demolishing their homes and properties within days, without any judicial procedure."
On another front, right-wing politics has promoted goddess Shabri and Lord Hanuman in Adivasi areas. As anti-Christian violence intensified in these regions over the past three decades, organizations like the Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (both affiliates of the RSS) aggressively promoted Shabri. A Shabri Kumbh was held near the Dangs in Gujarat, and a Shabri Temple was established in the area. At the time, Swami Aseemanand of the VHP was active there. He was later accused by the Maharashtra ATS of involvement in conspiracies behind the Malegaon, Ajmer, and Mecca Masjid bomb blasts.
Why were Shabri and Hanuman chosen for promotion in these areas? Shabri is portrayed as a poor woman who lacked proper food to offer Lord Ram, so she gave him berries she had first tasted herself. The contrast is striking—while city areas focus on worshiping deities like Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati, Adivasi regions are encouraged to venerate Shabri. Similarly, Lord Hanuman, known as a devoted servant of Ram, has been popularized in Adivasi areas. It’s quite telling.
The impact of Hindutva politics on our festivals offers deep insight into its broader strategy. The weaponization of festivals, the transformation of Kumbh into a platform for anti-Muslim rhetoric, and the targeted promotion of Shabri and Hanuman in tribal areas are developments that warrant serious reflection.
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