![]() ![]() Since taking office, the Modi-led government has taken steps to remove some reminders of the Muslim presence in India’s history. It is an attempt to symbolize him as a Hindu resurgent leader against Islamic rule, more like a symbol of Hindu-Muslim conflict,” Mohan Guruswamy, president of Center For Policy Alternatives, a public policy organization, tells TIME. Scheduled for completion in 2021, it is of Chhatrapati Shivaji, a Hindu warrior king, revered for battling Muslim rulers. “This is bound to come up since the atmosphere is very divisive and latching on to anything which is divisive has unfortunately become the motto of political parties in this country,” prominent political scientist Sudha Pai tells TIME.Įven as the wrangling over the Statue of Unity continues, a taller and possibly even more divisive sculpture is in the works off the coast of Mumbai. Opposition parties, led by the Congress, are bound to taunt Modi with this during campaigning for the 2019 elections, especially given India’s burgeoning unemployment. ![]() Photos circulating online earlier this year, showing Chinese workers at the site of the statue, haven’t helped. While the cladding represents only nine percent of the statue, it has the potential to embarrass Modi, who has staked much on a “Make In India” initiative to encourage companies to manufacture locally. Larsen and Toubro, the construction company that built the effigy, has admitted that its bronze cladding came from China. “In trying to politicize and usurp the legacies of our past leaders, the BJP is also making an attempt to demonize us.” ‘It’s a matter of shame’īesides its symbolism, questions have also been asked about the physical statue itself. “The BJP is trying to build a narrative that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru were always at loggerheads,” Priyanka Chaturvedi, a spokesperson for Congress, tells TIME. However, Modi has argued in the past that Patel was politically sidelined by both Congress and Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister (whose great-grandson Rahul Gandhi happens to be Modi’s opponent in the upcoming election).Ĭongress refutes this. Repeated requests for comment made to several BJP spokespersons for this article went unanswered. Gandhi’s killer, Nathuram Godse, had been a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the paramilitary Hindu organization regarded as the parent of the BJP. ![]() “For a party that claims to do everything in the name of the nation, they don’t have a past to invoke,” Sucheta Mahajan, professor at the Center of Historical Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, tells TIME.Įven worse, the BJP does have a connection to the assassin of independence icon Mahatma Gandhi, who was slain in 1948. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |