Few indian politicians would dare to take on god. And most north Indian politicians consider the DMK’s rationalist stance on the existence of Ram and Ram Sethu a public relations disaster. In India gods and politics are a very potent mix. L.K. Advani turned around the fortunes of the BJP by launching his motorised rath yatra on the Ram Janmabhoomi issue. India’s first prime minister may have termed himself as an atheist but his daughter, Indira Gandhi, a far shrewder politician, made it a point to be routinely photographed propitiating various gods at every major religious shrine. She also ensured that her father was cremated with Hindu rituals. The Gandhi family has continued Indira’s tradition. The conspicuous red puja threads on Sonia Gandhi’s wrist are meant to emphasise that she has accepted the religion of her husband, rather than the Roman Catholic faith of her childhood. Even Marxist leaders in Bengal make the rounds of the Durga Puja pandals, claiming self-righteously that this is really a cultural rather than a religious activity.

If Tamil Nadu has more ambivalent views towards Hinduism than other parts of the parts of the country it is thanks to E.V. Ramasami Naicker, founder of the Dravida movement. Some years back, when Jayalalithaa jailed the Shankaracharya of Kanchi, the BJP jumped to his defence. The party with its north Indian ethos assumed that by defending the honour of a covenanted godman, no matter how suspect, it would tap a groundswell of support. The BJP miscalculated. Its campaign to defend the seer was a non-starter and the party has failed to make a dent in Tamil Nadu politics.

... contd.