Narendra Modi as Vivekananda?

[Those progressives and liberals who have for years chosen to highlight and posit Vivekananda as an antidote to the Hindutva RSS agenda, better rethink if this is good idea. The Far Right and the Religious Right are far better at this game. Using religious icons and figures as secular alternatives is contradiction in terms. The lefty and liberal lot must abandon using religio - spiritual software of anykind to counter communalists. The likes of Modi can and will dress themselves up any which way. See the below news report. . . -Harsh Kapoor /sacw.net.]



From: Mail Today, 16 January 2011

‘Swami’ Modi out to woo Hindus back

By D. P. Bhattacharya in Gandhinagar

KNOWN TO be a man of many hats, Narendra Modi has now embraced an entirely new avatar.

After being called Chhota Sardar, in a reference to the Iron Man of India Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Modi is now being equated to Swami Vivekananda in the year of the latter’s 150th birth anniversary, which coincides with assembly polls in Gujarat.

With the state on the threshold of elections, the year- long celebration seeks to placate the Hindu voters of Gujarat, who were left confused after the Hindu Hriday Samrat seemingly had a change of heart during his three daylong Sadbhavana fast in 2011, when he embraced Muslims on public platforms across the state.

As part of the BJP’s election strategy, party members have found a novel method to promote Narendra Modi as a champion of Saffron power.

On January 12, a vernacular daily carried a quarter- page advertisement — issued by one of the BJP’s district presidents — which sought to draw a parallel between Modi and his namesake Swami Vivekananda, whose real name was Narendranath Dutta.

It featured both of their pictures side by side, with Modi sporting attire similar to Vivekananda’s — a saffron turban with a shawl. A message alongside the images, with Modi mirroring Vivekananda’s posture, read: “ It’s a river of saffron colour, of which Narendra ( Vivekananda) is on one bank and Narendra ( Modi) is on the other. Let us all soak in the great flow of nationalism and commitment of nation building flowing between the two banks.” The advertisement went on to add “ one religious man Narendra spread the light of spirituality, keeping the common man at the centre and the other political man Narendra has spread the light of development, keeping the common man at the centre.” “ In Vivekananda’s spirituality, one gets the strength to get over the struggles of life, while in the politics of Modi, ( the) common man gets the power to stay put. In the ways of these two great men, who are very much the foundation stones of Indian culture, come let us brighten our lives,” it concluded.