Mahua Moitra, the outspoken TMC MP, in her outburst in support of the Movie Kali has raised a lot of libertarian point of view which is being debated in the formal media and social media with sharp antagonism on both the sides; but, she has also raised a point of view which should be noted by the leadership in the RSS and BJP ranks.
She has said that RSS and BJP should not try to force north Indian view of Hinduism. is there such a view?
I do not know the answer to this question, but when I look back at the RSS iconography of of Hindutva, it only reflects Ram, Shiva, Krishna, Kartikeya etc. The Gods are prominent and Goddesses are absent in their articulation, narratives, discourses and explorations. Ram Mandir at Ayodhya has been fought for, but Sita temple at Sitamarhi has been ignored, Krishna Janmabhoomi is in all public discourse but, Radha temple in Dwarka is not spoken about, Shiva is all over, but Parvati is not highlighted enough. In my view, this is one big constituency that RSS and BJP are missing out and that is Women and specially the Eastern parts of India where the popular form of God icon is feminine. Tarapeeth, Kamakhya, Rajrappa are three of the nine shakti peeths of eastern India which has shaped the religious and spiritual world view in this part of the country. They have promoted the shakt tradition and several sub-traditions which includes tantrik and aughar traditions also. These traditions venerate the feminine form of shakti and the praying rituals are very different from the other Vaishnava rituals. BJP and RSS should include them in their narratives of Hindutva to get more inclusive in the eastern part of the country. This is an idea for RSS and BJP to expand and consolidate their social outreach. This will re-inforce the Hindutva ideology and also expand the narrative without Diluting it.
Let us talk about Mahua Moitra’s response in support of the movie Kali. No one can deny that what Mahua said was factually right; but,
given that the movie Kali is created to demean Indian polytheistic tradition, her statement when looked at in the context of her support to the movie makes it derogatory.
सत्यम ब्रूयात प्रियं ब्रूयात न ब्रूयात सत्यम अप्रियम
we have been taught to speak the truth but avoid speaking rude truth (mind you, I do not say Harsh Truth , but I say Rude Truth)