Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s latest remarks contrasting Lord Ram and Lord Shiva have triggered a political controversy after he described Shiva as the “God of the poor” and Ram as the “God of the rich.” Speaking at a conclave in New Delhi, the Congress leader also contrasted the religious expressions of North and South India, saying that southern Indians are associated with “Har Har Mahadev” while leaders from the North frequently use “Jai Shri Ram.”
The bizarre attempt to attach economic and regional identities to Hindu deities has attracted well deserved criticism from all quarters. Lord Ram and Lord Shiva are worshipped across India, cutting across regions, languages, communities and economic backgrounds. Turning them into symbols of “rich” and “poor,” or North and South, introduces a political classification into traditions that have historically been far more diverse and interconnected.
The remarks also come against the backdrop of Revanth Reddy’s earlier interventions in the North-South political debate. He has previously argued that southern states have distinct economic and political concerns and has spoken about differences between northern and southern India. The latest comments bring that regional framing into the sphere of religious identity.
What purpose is served by dividing Hindu worship along these lines? Is Lord Shiva exclusively a deity of the poor? Are devotees of Lord Ram necessarily wealthy? Obviously, religious devotion does not follow an income certificate. Millions and millions of Indians worship both deities. Is Congress party now so devoid of ideas that now they have resorted to dividing Hindu Gods along regional lines?
Instead of debating jobs, investment, infrastructure, education, governance or development, Congress discourse is shifting towards categorising even Gods according to social and regional identities.
Congress leaders have frequently accused the BJP of using religion for political mobilisation. Yet remarks that place Hindu deities into competing political, economic or geographical categories are part of the religiously charged political conversation.
India’s religious traditions have never been neatly divided into North and South, rich and poor, or one political camp versus another. Lord Ram is worshipped in the South, just as Lord Shiva is worshipped extensively in the North. There are countless towns named after Lord Ram in the South, and then there is obviously Banaras in the North, Lord Shiva’s city. Maybe someone can tell Congress leaders that.
When political arguments begin dividing even Gods into categories of rich and poor and North and South, has political discourse run out of substantive issues? Revanth Reddy’s remarks reinforce that the Congress party is increasingly searching for divisions, even within India’s religious traditions, rather than trying to unite citizens.
