Why Prime Minister Modi builds a new temple as COVID-19 deaths rise

Earlier this week on August 5, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the construction of a Hindu temple in Ayodhya, India. (Model in photo.) It’s being built on the site of a 15th century mosque that was demolished by a Hindu extremist mob in 1992. A political expert robot and Modi supporter, known by the digital code R2S, discusses the issue virtually with a Busybee* disciple.   

Busybee’s Disciple: You support Prime Minister Modi launching the construction of the temple?

Expert robot R2S: Yes, I salute Modi’s decisive action. 80% of Indians are Hindus. They have suffered for centuries in their own country since they did not have religious facilities like a temple on that site in Ayodhya.

Not just me. Millions of Hindus in India – and some in Times Square, New York - distributed sweets, burst fire-crackers and danced to celebrate the start of the temple’s construction. These were spontaneous displays of appreciation for Modi, organized by members of his Bharatiya Janata Party.

B.D.: Why build the temple when the number of infections and deaths and unemployment and starvation rise daily in India due to COVID-19?

R2S: Modi is a political genius. He is following an old strategy associated with Marie-Antionette, an 18th century French Queen. When people had no bread to eat, she said “let them eat cake.” The citizens may have no food but they can feel good by dreaming about enjoying cakes.  

Similarly, at a time when Indians are fearful for their health and livelihood, Modi is giving the Hindus a magnificent, new temple. He thus enables them to replace their worry about fear for their safety or a next meal with a beautiful dream about one day praying in that sacred spot in a sacred city.  

B.D.: critics say Modi is trying to distract Indians from the damage being caused by the uncontrolled spread of the virus.

R2S: Modi made a promise to build the temple in Ayodhya, while campaigning for the 2018 elections. So today - ignoring criticism from anti-national elements in India as well as the BBC, The New York Times and other failing Western media outlets - he has achieved that major goal. Modi is a strong leader who will not let his vision to transform India into a Hindu nation be derailed.

B.D: But what about the virus?

R2S: As history has shown, leaders become great only by focusing on tasks they can control and tasks that enhance their public image. Look at the strategy of Indira Gandhi, the late Prime Minister, though she was from the rival Congress Party. From 1975 to 1977, even as she imposed an emergency and suspended civil liberties, she launched a campaign to clean the streets.

Problems like the current pandemic require a great deal of funds and effort. Even if Modi’s government can borrow the funds or pressure the Reserve Bank to print more Rupees, the solutions may not work. Or, if they do, it may take years. This will anger more voters. So, Modi is correct in saying daily that his government is making every effort to counter the harm caused by the virus. Meanwhile I sense he is waiting for rich foreign philanthropists like Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, to donate vaccines and drugs to India. Also, of course, Modi has to blame China for the damage caused by the virus in India.  

B.D: Like President Donald Trump is doing in America?

R2S: Exactly. Modi and Trump are the two great leaders in the world today. They think alike. Modi eagerly hugs Trump whenever they meet. They are both successful in convincing voters that someone else is responsible for problems like the Chinese virus, as Trump describes it; while they are the only ones who deserve credit for all the good policies.   

B.D: Good policies?  

R2S: Yes, there is a lot of good that is happening. Modi has clearly established that India is on the fast track to becoming a Hindu nation, by actions such as building a temple on the site of a mosque. Hindus are now first-class citizens. Muslims and other religious minorities are welcome to stay on in India provided they accept that they are second class citizens. They should not protest. Look at what happened in Delhi in February. Organized Hindu mobs burnt homes and businesses in Muslim areas.

B.D.: What happened to respect for all religions and equality that led Indians to fight for freedom from British rule?

R2S: Those are all good ideals to read about in school textbooks. But, trust me, without Hindu nationalism India will continue to be a third-rate power, economically and militarily.   

B.D.: What does Hindu nationalism offer low castes many of whom face insults and assaults from the upper castes?

R2S: Ah, you are forgetting that the lower and upper castes are first and foremost Hindus. Like members of any family, they will fight, even violently, over land, money, education and jobs. It is also possible that the low castes may not be allowed to enter the Ayodhya temple, at least at the same time as the upper castes. Yet Modi deserves credit for uplifting the spirits of many low caste Hindus by convincing them that Hindu nationalism is their political salvation. He also makes them feel good that they are at least not at the bottom of the social ladder – the Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs and Parsis are all beneath them.

B.D: With his Ayodhya temple goal achieved, will Modi turn to creating jobs and improving education, like he promised during the 2013 election campaign?

R2S: The Prime Minister has other important work to finish in order to win the next election in 2023. New campaigns need to be launched to demolish other mosques and Muslim monuments, and perhaps Christian churches, Buddhist monasteries, Sikh gurudwaras and Parsi fire temples, and replace them with Hindu temples. For example a monument like the Taj Mahal.    

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*Busybee was the pen name of Indian journalist Behram Contractor (1930-2001.) His daily “Round and About” columns, from the 1970’s to 2001, were a must read for Indians, especially in Bombay. They poked fun at the egos and pomposity of the self-dealing, power games, pettiness and folly of politicians, bureaucrats, business folk and celebrities. The satirical pieces were published first in The Evening News and then in The Afternoon Despatch & Courier, a newspaper Contractor founded in 1985.