Eyes on the idol
THE WEEK|November 07, 2021
Why the national parties are showing a sudden interest in the legacy of an 11thcentury Bhakti saint from Tamil Nadu
LAKSHMI SUBRAMANIAN
Eyes on the idol

PASSENGERS TRAVELLING via the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad cannot miss the sight of a giant statue of a seated figure holding a flagstaff. This 216ft-tall monument—called the Statue of Equality—built at Srirama Nagaram JIVA Campus, Hyderabad, commemorates the millennium of the birth of saint Ramanuja, a tall figure of the Bhakti movement. Tridandi Chinna Jeeyar Swami, a scholar of Vaishnavism, is the designer and planner of the statue; on September 18, Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to inaugurate the statue during the festivities scheduled from February 2 to February 14, 2022.

The saint is revered by a large section of Hindus—both Brahmins and non-Brahmins—from Tamil Nadu. Modi’s first move to appease them was in 2016; he mentioned Ramanuja during his speech from the Red Fort on the 70th Independence Day. The following year, the Union government released a commemorative stamp on the birth anniversary of the saint. The sangh parivar is trying to position itself as the protector of the religion. But the question remains: How would Ramanuja’s teachings of equality of all and his love for Tamil fit into the sangh’s in its Hindi-Hindu-hindutva narrative?

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