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Should God's own country become God's own independent country?
Posted on:04:50 PM IST Jun 12, 2014 IST
NOT WORTH ANOTHER WORD
Sreedhar Pillai
Posted on:04:50 PM IST Jun 12, 2014 IST
NOT WORTH ANOTHER WORD
Sreedhar Pillai
- For thousands of years, Malayalees have had a special relationship with God in his own special country. A growing number of Malayalees feel it is now time they called it their own country.
If God loved pomp and praise, there is nothing more pompous than the way he is paraded in Kerala, on the heads of majestic elephants attired in inimitably ornate golden trappings, enshrined on golden hallowed cathedra under colourful parasols and fanned by equally ornate alavattams and venchamarams.
If God loved music, there is nothing more exhilarating and praising than the uniquely keralite panchari melam of divine instruments to which he is taken on a procession.
If God loved his stories being played out, there is indeed no form of performing art which can transport gods and humans alike to the realms of the divine through sight, sound and light, like the Kathakali the Malayalees have brought to perfection.
If God was Hindu, there was never ever a greater apostle for him than Lord Sankara of Kerala and there is no other part of India which has grasped the essence and spirit of Hinduism, beyond rhetoric, as their way of life.
In fact Narendra Modi and the BJP should be thankful to Lord Sankaracharya for saving and reviving Hindutwa and bequeathing it strong and healthy enough for them to exploit it centuries later for the sake of grabbing political power.
It is indeed the life of Sankaracharya the BJP should celebrate more than that of any other Hindutwa leader. To atone their sin of negligence, perhaps they should even move the BJP headquarters to Kalady in Kerala, the birth place of Lord Sankara on the shore of the beautiful Periyar river.
Yet when much of rest of the Republic of India, in which Kerala belongs, has turned undoubtedly Hindu, the Malayalees have elected and sent twenty members who do not subscribe to the Hindu political ideology, even remotely, to the nation's parliament, despite majority of them being Hindus.
It is not the first time when Kerala or a particular state has cast their votes differently from a general trend which has swept the nation.
However when this election has finally converted India to be a nation governed by religious ideology, much like its neighbours Pakistan, Srilanka, Indonesia, Malaysia and others, many Malayalees wonder if Kerala with its sizable Muslim and Christian population has moved far to make it tenable to exist as part of a Hindu nation.
Many see the writings on the wall. Despite the fact that several Malayalees have been somehow raised to and occupied key positions including that of the president and chief justice of India in the past, when it comes to political power and decisions affecting their lives, somehow Kerala has let itself to be pushed around for long. They don't see any leader of the present generation rising strong enough like a Mamta or Jaya to argue their case. The scepticism is not without reason.
Kerala is perhaps the only place in the world where its own river, the water and benefits of which flow backwards, is blocked by an archaic dam, bursting of which can wipe out one third of its population while they have no right to do anything about it.
Despite loving and living a nearly balanced life with its abundant greenery and forests for thousands of years, Kerala's environmental priorities are to be decided by political powers which rest thousands of miles away in baron land.
Despite earning millions of dollars for the nation by toiling in harshest of conditions, Kerala still has to wait for a wagon factory or xyz investment by the central government, promised and forgotten.
Even the mighty coastal states of West Bengal, Orissa and Tamil Nadu, which have just escaped the onslaught of religious polarisation of the BJP, won't let Kerala be a part of the power block they will create in the parliament to extract benefits from the Modi government for their states.
Where does all that leave Kerala with its handful of parliamentarians which stands isolated and marginalised?
You don't have to be a great political pundit to see how things will evolve in the next decade.
The inroads BJP and its Hindu polarisation have made in the three coastal states are deep enough for its onslaught to be unstoppable. Any financial and developmental money the current leaders will extract will only go in favour of Modi and the BJP and reasons for whole hearted support during next election.
The question is only how soon that will happen. Perhaps in five years, perhaps in a decade, but India will surely be a larger Hindu nation, including even the coastal states.
Will the Hindus of Kerala fall in line? Perhaps with huge dollops of development and money even they can be bought. But are they enlightened enough to realise that as an independent country Kerala will and can have much more?
The section of Malayalees who think so are not alone. Such feelings do take shape elsewhere in the world like Scotland in the United Kingdom and part of California in the United States.
The stark reality is that with a multitude of languages and religions, India is more like the European Union than the United States. As a nation it remained united only under a threat of aggression. Trying to achieve the cohesion by religious polarisation can throw some surprises.
Will the people of Kerala be pushed in to dreaming of their own God's country will depend on how tolerant and comfortable they will get with the idea of being part of religious governance?
