Should Modi drag Swami Vivekananda into his politics?

By Kartikeya Tanna Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s invocation of Swami Vivekananda in his Yuva Vikas Yatra across the Gujarat has attracted criticism from Ramakrishna Mission as well as his political opponents. Much of this criticism is the result of a combination of factors ranging from the perception Modi carries among various sections of society to assumptions about his ideological alignment with Hindu conservative outfits and, in particular, the automatic cynicism generated from the use of our historical greats by politicians – a maligned class in itself. The only substantive criticism advanced so far is that the Swami remained away from politics all his life and, therefore, Modi’s decision to centre his yatra on Vivekananda is unacceptable. Such criticism suffers from two interrelated fallacies. Firstly, such criticism tends to draw a mutually exclusive divide between dharma (religion) and rajneeti (politics), in that modern day politicians should neither be inspired by nor invoke spiritual gurus who have nothing to do with politics. [caption id=“attachment_464637” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  When one invokes someone like Swami Vivekananda in a bid to earn power, the electorate has every right to scrutinise that person on whether he is on his inspirer’s path in his duties[/caption] Vivekananda did, indeed, abhor politics and the political systems India struggled for during that time since he saw similarities with what existed in Europe. But he had elaborate views on the capability in Vedanta philosophy to elevate democracy to its true essence, the role of the ideal state and constituents of individual patriotism – all areas very relevant in Indian politics. Therefore, in a speech at Victoria Hall in Madras, the Swami stressed that politics in India had to be preached by “showing how much it will improve the one thing that the nation wants – its spirituality”. Secondly, and particularly when politicians indulge in this criticism, it reveals how low they think of politics in general and, in particular, the politics they’re indulging in. They are indirectly saying that politics is a dirty game in which saints like Swami Vivekananda cannot be dragged. Writing in Hind Swaraj, Mahatma Gandhi referred to the British Parliament (on which our Parliament is modelled) as a “sterile woman” and a “prostitute” and held Prime Ministers responsible for buffeting it around like a prostitute. Nonetheless, our Founding Fathers gave independent India a political structure that the Swami would’ve considered “useless” and a Parliament and state assemblies that Gandhi didn’t like. Does that mean we alienate the ideas of the Swami and Gandhi from politics and parliamentary affairs? Or, do we attempt to reinvent and redefine them to understand the core of their objections in order to ensure we don’t abuse these structures? The attempt to divorce Swami Vivekananda from modern day politics by critics has neither the vision nor the urge to transform politics from the dirt they find every politician responsible for to something where power can be wielded to significantly better the lives of those governed. And, in a free democratic country, power has to be earned before it can be wielded. Can power be earned by divine right? By force? No. The prerequisite to rajdharma (roughly translated as dutiful governance) is rajneeti (politics). Is our vision of a neta then so narrow that we would rather not have him spread the Swami’s message through his politics to the thousands of young people he can inspire? Should that job be the exclusive domain of spiritual organisations and enlightened yogis? If that were the case, Swami would have kept himself confined to the inaccessible sections of some esoteric society. In response to every query on his national ambitions, Modi has indicated his focus on diligently performing the duty which, in Swami’s words, is “nearest to him” and “in his hands”. That is what, in Swami’s exposition of Karma Yoga, improves one’s strength “step by step”. What is wrong if Modi tries to inspire his six crore Gujaratis to identify their nearest duty and gain strength? Undoubtedly, when one invokes someone like Swami Vivekananda in a bid to earn power, the electorate has every right to scrutinise that person on whether he is on his inspirer’s path in his duties. And if he is found wanting, he should be given a fitting response. But why is the attempt to earn power – something that our democracy ordains – seen as an untouchable arena for invoking our historical greats, something evoking ridicule and opposition? That it should isn’t surprising, given what the Swami himself expressed in a letter to the Maharaja of Khetri. In explaining the difficulties of planting the Vedanta seed on foreign soil in the wake of opposition from Christian priests, the Swami said that each work had to pass through the stages of “ridicule, opposition and then acceptance” and that those who thought ahead of their time were “sure to be misunderstood”. Modi is, in fact, thinking quite behind today’s times – a time when dharma guided political and economic reconstruction as much as it inspired social and individual reformation. This has become, rather paradoxically, the new “thinking ahead of our times”. And, by doing so, Modi has signalled to the people that he is willing to be held to a standard different from other politicians – the standard of dharma which has its roots in the Swami’s preaching. Whether his politics and his governance meet that standard is what the debate should be about and not whether he should hold himself to that standard in the first place.