Hero worship in India and the World

“India is Indira. Indira is India”.

-A congress leader after India won the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.

India has a pluralistic society with no dearth of gods and religions. The world came to know of religious tolerance by observing Indian culture where people worship different and so many gods yet could survive as a nation. But in spite of this fact, a significant element of hero worship is evolving in India and has strengthened well in the last five decades.

The World versus India- Then:

More than two thousand years ago, hero worship was common in human civilization. The Egyptian Pharaohs were considered to be heavenly which lead to the construction of one of the greatest marvels of ancient civilization the pyramids to house the mummies of their ‘gods’.  The Romans were not an exception with most emperors coveting the title of ‘Caesar’.

In the Indian context, Asoka who ruled in the third century BCE was probably the first person to consider himself as the ‘father’ of his subjects. More than a thousand years later, in the thirteenth century, Gias-ud-din Balban, the ruler of the Delhi Sultanate proclaimed the divine theory of kingship that the king is the shadow of the Almighty on the earth.

But the age of the empires ended in the 19^th century and colonialism passed away in the last century. With the disappearance of the two important factors which supported the infallibility of the king, the custom of rulers and leaders being treated as God has faded away too.

Contemporary India versus Contemporary World:

India presents a contrasting picture with the rest of the world. Performers and leaders especially from the fields of politics, cinema, religion and sports are portrayed as Gods.

 Sachin Tendulkar (my favorite batsman) is probably the best cricketer to have played the game considering the tremendous amount of pressure which he handled every time he walked on the field while the Great Don and Vivian Richards knew nothing of that sort. But people who praise Sachin hail him to be sacrosanct and call him the God of Cricket. The issue is that it doesn’t stop with Sachin but extends from Ganguly to Dhoni.

Bollywood is not new to hero worship too. Amitabh Bachan was voted the youth icon of the year when he was in his sixty. The “King Khans” have a huge following in India. In South India hero worship was so high that respectable NTR and respectable MGR became the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh and  Tamilnadu respectively. Rajnikanth(I am his fanatic too) has been the demigod in Tamilnadu for the past two decades.  His fan following in India is unmatched and his films have got him fanatics even from Japan.

The number of God men in India has increased drastically since Independence. There has been many who claimed of special powers of healing and magic. Sai Baba of Shridi was known to every household in India.

The problem doesn’t lie in a human or a performer being appreciated or praised by his fanatic. It lies in overdoing it. Hero worship in India has reached a stage where few are considered to be infallible and are above the law and most importantly the nation. The hit and run case in which Salman Khan was involved drew a lot of sympathy from his fans though it was a crime. In case of Tamilnadu, hero worship has reached unprecedented limits. The cadre of the ruling party undertook huge religious ceremonies and held months of mourning until their leader and the now Chief Minister J Jayalalitha, devotionally referred as “Amma” by her worshippers was acquitted by the court. Her return, was further celebrated with such pomp and gay where as the administrative machinery has come to a standstill in the last ten months. Things were worser in the aftermath of the 1971 war victory over Pakistan when the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was worshipped by many of her followers. The vicroty was commendable but that doesn’t warrant worship which eventually leads to misuse of power when emergency was proclaimed only four years after the war which was highly controversial.

Ignorance of true leaders is another pathetic result of such blind hero worship. In the celebratory mood of ‘Super Star’s birthday on December 12^th, the people of Tamilnadu forget a true leader, a tamil poet who fought for India- Subramania Bharathi whose birthday falls on December 11^th.The word 'leader' has lost its meaning in India with so many people being referred to as leaders for petty reasons. Further the worship of God men has led to the sprouting of so many illicit ones and the followers feel betrayed when their heroes turn out to be a fiasco as happened in the case of ‘Nithyananda’.

The world leaders and performers on the other had has a lot to offer. Fidel Castro of Cuba, one of the greatest leaders to have challenged USA, has ordered that not more than four lines is to be published about him in any newspaper on his birthday. The US President could be trolled openly in public media, whereas in India his ‘worshippers’ will kill the one who dissented against their leader.

Sachin might be hailed as the God of cricket but there are a lot of stars who match his talent and humility from other domains. Some might consider Roger Federer as the Greatest to have played the game but not many of his fans call him God. Michael Jackson, the king of pop but when the allegations of child abuse rose against him, he was tried in court.

Air Jordan and Lebron James might have won them so many medals but USA doesn’t say that they are greater than the game. Novak Djokovic in spite of winning the highest civilian award for his country is not greater than his nation. The greatness of Maradona doesn’t allow him to be banned from the game for drug abuse. The seat of Pope is permanent but the man who holds the seat is not.

Fanaticism is sweet only when kept within the limits, beyond which it goes sour. India has a lot to learn from the world.