India: BJP and the rise of Lord Ram in Bengal (Saugata Roy / TOI)

Highlights

The spurt in celebration of Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti in parts of Bengal has caught eyeballs
Speakers at the rallies use the occasion to assert their Hindu identity
If you discount this as a “passing phase” of saffron euphoria after UP polls, think again

KOLKATA: Lord Ram was never a historical figure in Bengal as people believe in parts of north India. Perceptions vary in Uttar Pradesh and Bengal on this issue. For people in east UP, mostly avid readers of Ramcharitmanas by Tulsidas, Ram is as real as the sun, but it's not so in Bengal.

In fact, Tagore wrote "Kobi tobo monobhumi Ramer janmasthan, Ayodhyar cheye satya jeno (the poet's mind is the birthplace of Ram which is more real than Ayodhya)."

Yet, the spurt in celebration of Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti in parts of Bengal, including Tagore's land Birbhum, has caught eyeballs, pointing to a shift in the state's socio-political narrative. Speakers at the rallies use the occasion to assert their Hindu identity, although at the grassroots, the deprived lot look at Ram as the icon against "injustice and terror" by the ruling Trinamool Congress.

If you discount this as a "passing phase" of saffron euphoria after UP polls, think again. For, it appears to be a building up of a new narrative in which Hinduism stands for patriotism and secularism means Muslim appeasement. Unlike in 1992, when Kolkata saw a surge in Hindu passions after the Babri Masjid demolition, the VHP's rallying for Ram Janmabhoomi this time got some a social sanction. [. . .]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/bjp-and-the-rise-of-lord-ram-in-bengal/articleshow/58567272.cms