From Dandi March To Bharat Jodo Yatra: Tracing Role Of Sacrifice In Indian Politics

In December 2016, a few weeks after demonetisation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing a rally, said: 바카라�Jyada se jyada kya kar lenge? Arey hum toh fakeer aadmi hai, jhola leke nikal lenge (What can my opponents do to me? I am a hermit. I will exit with my few belongings)바카라�. While this part of his speech became famous in the following days through social media, it was not the first time that the projected image of a political leader as a fakir or saint got political traction.

Since the days of Mahatma Gandhi, a true leader in India has been considered to be an embodiment of three quintessential features바카라�asceticism, sacrifice and celibacy. Among these, the most powerful tool has been the evocation of sacrifice. As Modi was shown meditating in a cave in Uttarakhand just a few days prior to the declaration of the 2019 General Election results, his persona was viewed from the lens of abstinence바카라�a stage where a person sacrifices the comfort of material life to achieve some high moral ground.

While the portrayal of Modi as a saintly figure is a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party바카라�s (BJP) decade-long strategy, in the last few years, projecting his spiritual side, spreading the message of love, abandoning material comfort and showcasing a deep engagement in the ideal of 바카라�sewa바카라�, Rahul Gandhi has emerged as the embodiment of the necessary saintly impulses that seem to counterweight his rival바카라�s projected image.

However, one can바카라�t miss the differences in the evocation of two forms of sacrifices. On the one hand, there are Modi바카라�s references to his personal sacrifices바카라�like leaving his wife for indulging in the service of the nation, echoing Gautam Buddha바카라�s idea of 바카라�sanyas바카라�; on the other, the martyrdoms of Gandhi family members have never left the mindscape of Rahul Gandhi. Sugata Srinivasaraju, the author of Strange Burden, rightly says that whenever Rahul Gandhi recounts the loss of his family members, he takes a 20-second pause, and then talks about 바카라�forgiveness바카라�.

Since he joined politics, Gandhi has invoked the sacrifices of his father and grandmother several times. In March this year, when he was disqualified from Parliament, besides updating his status as 바카라�disqualified MP바카라�, he wrote, 바카라�Satya, sahaas aur balidaan바카라�ye humari virasat hai, aur yahi hamari takaat bhi바카라�.

To emphasise the balidaan (sacrifice), the post was accompanied with a video that showed Priyanka Gandhi addressing a rally and recalling her father바카라�s death. In the backdrop, one can see the archival shots of Rahul Gandhi carrying the body of his father during his last journey. Priyanka Gandhi says: 바카라�Rahul got out of the car and carried the dead body of my father in the scorching heat from Trimurti. And now, the son of a shahid PM is called anti-national. Referring to the sacrifices of her family, she adds, 바카라�The democracy of the country has been built upon the sacrifices my family members have made.바카라�

While Rahul바카라�s recurrent evocation of the sacrifices made by his family members builds his image as a successor of a great sacrificial lineage, the Bharat Jodo Yatra made him, as he said, 바카라�a different person바카라�.

Sporting unkempt hair and a bushy beard, as he walked hundreds of miles wearing just a T-shirt on chilly winter mornings of North India, a novel saintly image was born. Several times during the yatra, Rahul Gandhi referred to it as a 바카라�journey of self-discovery바카라�. In the words of senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan, 바카라�It was a tapasya (penance) for him.바카라�

The aim of the yatra was to unite the country, and from the very beginning, the message of sacrifice바카라� sacrificing hate for love and the comfort of lives to learn and empathise바카라�was embedded in it.

From Gandhi바카라�s Dandi March to Swami Vivekananda바카라�s Bharat Bhraman, the essence of sacrifice and yajna have always had revolutionary potential. In 1904, while encouraging the Indian community in South Africa to fight for their rights, Gandhi referred to 바카라�sacrifice바카라� as a way of life. Exhorting the community, he said, 바카라�We can do nothing or get nothing without paying a price for it, as it would be said in commercial parlance or, in other words, without sacrifice.바카라�

On the potential of yajna and sacrifice, Gandhi said, 바카라�Life comes out of death. A seed must disintegrate under the earth and perish before it can grow into the grain. Harishchandra went through endless suffering to honour his word as a man of truth, Jesus put on a crown of thorns to win salvation for his people, allowed his hands and feet to be nailed and suffered agonies before he gave up the ghost. This has been the law of yajna from time immemorial. Without yajna, this earth cannot exist even for a moment.바카라�

So, the origin of sacrificial politics in India dates back to Gandhi. According to political scientist Satish K Jha: 바카라�The concept of sacrifice is rooted in Indian traditions. Gandhi fine-tuned it and brought it into the political domain. The Mahatma and fakir have their special place in Indian consciousness바카라�outside society, but still a part of it. They are supposed to be above material interests.바카라� However, it is not only Modi or Rahul Gandhi, the political avatars of Jayaprakash Narayan or Vinoba Bhave also represent the politics of sacrifice.

Rahul Gandhi바카라�s evocation of sacrifice is nevertheless different from that of Modi. While Modi banks on celibacy, 바카라�Rahul바카라�s tyaag is of a different kind. It is based on martyrdom in family and renunciation of power,바카라� adds Jha.

While in 2004, Sonia Gandhi didn바카라�t take up the Prime Ministership despite leading her party to a formidable victory, in 2019, Rahul Gandhi left the post of the party president, taking responsibility for the loss in the general election. Chavan even recounts how Rahul denied taking up a ministerial post in Manmohan Singh바카라�s cabinet in 2009. Apart from sacrificing lives, the renunciation of power has also gradually become a trademark feature of the Gandhi family.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra also added a new perspective to Rahul바카라�s politics, feel scholars. Referring to Gandhi바카라�s statement that 바카라�main ne Rahul Gandhi ko maar diya hai바카라�, professor and political scientist Ajay Gudavarthy says: 바카라�This allowed the projection of a new Rahul, who is humble, with ears to the ground. Alongside sacrifice, Rahul is bringing back the images of India that works and labours hard with a sense of commitment and honesty.바카라� Against the anti-elitist rhetoric of Modi, stand the working class/peasant images, which is not our past but the present, he adds.

While Mujibur Rehman, a political scientist and the editor of Rise of Saffron Power: Reflections on Indian Politics, accepts that Rahul Gandhi has gone through significant changes, he does not think that the sacrifices of Gandhi family members would further work in vote-bank politics. 바카라�The general feeling is that people no longer reward the Gandhis owing to their sacrifices. Had that been the case, the party would not have been reduced to such a small number in Parliament. People think the family has enjoyed a lot owing to their sacrifices and there is nothing more to offer them,바카라� says Rehman.

However, one shouldn바카라�t belittle the sacrifices that the Gandhi family has made, think some scholars. 바카라�The point, to my mind, is to underline that this may have been a dynasty but it has made sacrifices of the order that few families have in the BJP. That at least seems to me to be the unstated part of this evocation,바카라� says political scientist Aditya Nigam.

He does not think that the 바카라�sacrifice trope바카라� works for Rahul. 바카라�In fact, he doesn바카라�t even wear the kurta pyjama바카라�leave alone the khadi that Gandhian and Congress leaders of yore (but many even today) wear,바카라� says Nigam. Instead, the 바카라�discourse of 바카라�sacrifice바카라� has been Modi바카라�s card for the longest time. He abandoned his wife because as everyone can see, he cannot take any responsibility for anything. He did not sacrifice conjugal life for the country or anything like that,바카라� he adds.

As Rahul Gandhi wraps up his recent two-day stay at the Golden Temple indulging in 바카라�sewa바카라�바카라�achieving the feat of being the only non-Sikh politician to do so바카라�his newly-found avatar takes a much deeper spiritual turn.

The uncanny similarity between his recent column in a national newspaper and Mahatma Gandhi바카라�s spiritual aspiration makes one further think through the new ideals of the leader. While the call for 바카라�sacrifice바카라� remains an unsaid virtue, Rahul writes, 바카라�This action and duty to defend others, especially the weak, is what a Hindu calls her Dharma. Listening for and acting on behalf of the world바카라�s invisible worries through the prisms of truth and non-violence.바카라�

(This appeared in the print as 'Politics of Sacrifice')