From Rahul Gandhi calling Congress-BJP contest as Pandava-Kaurava battle to Urjit Patel offering to make RBI Neelkantha of Indian banking's Samudra Manthan, leaders are resorting to myths too often
While Congress President Rahul Gandhi recently referred to his party's contest with the Bharatiya Janata Party as being like the Kurukshetra battle between the Pandavas and Kauravas, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier termed his critics as Shalya. Similarly, while Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel recently said the Samudra Manthan required to cleanse the Indian banking system would also need a Neelakantha to swallow the poison so that the larger economy could avail of the benefits of the nectar that would follow, his deputy Viral acharya had earlier said the Indian banking system needed a Sudarshan Chakra more than an Indradhanush. A K Bhattacharya reads into these allusions and their implied meanings and assesses what else these might mean in the light of their mythological significance.
One of the consequences of the Hindutva agenda promoted by the present government is that India’s policy makers are in thrall to stories and characters depicted in Hindu epics. Even the Congress leaders and economic policy administrators are no longer free from that influence.
Thus, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday compared his party with the Pandavas and the Bharatiya Janata Party with the Kauravas. A few days ago, the Reserve Bank of India Governor, Urjit Patel, talked about his willingness to become a Neelkantha or Shiva and drink the poison from Samudra Manthan!
To most Indians, these references may mean different things. Worse, these references may even make no sense to many young Indians who are not fully conversant with the Hindu epics. Also, there are many layers to the characters and events in Hindu epics like the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Once the layers are uncovered, even those who use these epic analogies may find to their surprise that what they wanted to convey may not be what they actually meant; and in some cases, they may have meant what they actually did not want to convey.
So, here is an attempt to list a few of the recent references to epic characters and events, the context in which they were used and the actual significance or meaning they conveyed.
Pandavas vs Kauravas
Congress President Rahul Gandhi compared his own party with the Pandavas and the BJP with the Kauravas in an attempt to present the BJP in a poor light. The Pandavas in the Mahabharata lost everything but fought for truth. And the Kauravas were ‘designed to fight for power’. Gandhi also likened the 2019 general elections to the battle of Kurukshetra, where the fight would be between the truth and lies. No guesses here on who would fight for the truth and who would defend the lies.
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