Recent reports indicate that PM Modi is being worshipped as a god at several locations—both inside existing temples and outside them—and a “Modi Mandir” is currently under construction plan in Patna, the state capital of Bihar. These activities are neither merely reflects a culture of sycophancy in politics nor an accidental onslaught on science, reason, and the Hindu religion; rather, they sound odd and offensive to the spiritual traditions of Hinduism or any religion for that matter. This phenomenon is not a product of Modi’s popularity alone but a well curated systematic narrative to construct a Modi personality cult, aided by propaganda started by none other than Mr. Modi himself.
In an interview recorded on 14 May 2024 in Varanasi and broadcast on 22 May 2024 on the News18 channel where Mr. Modi claimed: “Until my mother was alive, I used to think I was born biologically. After her demise, when I look at my experiences, I am convinced that I was sent by God. This strength is not from my body. It has been given to me by God. That’s why God also gave me the ability, strength, pure heartedness, and also the inspiration to do this. I am nothing but an instrument that God has sent.” Such claims reveal that Mr Modi smells political defeat not merely in electoral terms but as inglorious persona in the larger political canvass of Indian history as Hindutva’s support base is dwindling due to its failures in all fronts.
However, such divine claims are not a product of mental illness or unconscious or subconscious stressful public utterance or slip of tongue; they are well-curated propaganda designed to project a larger-than-life image to conceal all failures of Mr Modi and fraudulent narratives of Hindutva politics. Mr. Modi’s claim that he is not biological, or that he is an agent of God, fits into a belief system historically common to all tyrants, dictators, and their claims of divine descent. These unusual spiritual assertions sound offensive to spiritual people and to those who value science, reason, and rationality, but these claims are not unique in history. All tyrants, from antiquity to the modern era, have claimed divine origin, agency, or descent to legitimise their illegitimate authority and consolidate absolute power.
The merger of faith with politics, and the social with the sacred create condition that demands unquestionable obedience from the people to sustain power without any form of democratic governance or accountability. Such a political structure is also designed to prevent any form of resistance from the working masses, who suffer the most under authoritarian rule by the powerful. The rulers’ claims of being God, or direct or indirect descendants of deities, help to domesticate God-fearing people and are designed to control the masses and prevent revolt.
In ancient Rome, Julius Caesar claimed that his family was descended from the goddess Venus before declaring himself as dictator perpetuo in 44 BC. He created conditions that led to the collapse of the Roman Republic. He was later not only assassinated by a group of senators, including some of his own allies within the First Triumvirate, but his subsequent deification also contributed to the outbreak of civil war in Rome and rise of Roman Empire. The Roman emperor Caligula was not only a ruthless autocrat but also demanded to be worshipped as a living god. Similarly, Domitian ordered the officials of the Roman Empire to address him as Dominus et Deus (Master and God). Despite claims divinity, God could not save either of these ruthless Roman emperors from their assassins.
Alexander the Great, the Macedonian emperor of ancient Greece, claimed to be the semi-divine son of Zeus to legitimise his rule but his claims of divinity could not save him from the excessive drinking that ultimately took his life. The English King Charles I claimed that his tyrannical authority came directly from God and that the Divine Right of Kings could not be challenged by Parliament or the people—a position that eventually led to the English Civil War. Yet no god could save the king from his beheading. Similarly, the French King Louis XIV portrayed himself as the Roi Soleil (The Sun King) and claimed he was accountable to none but God as his representative. Yet God could not save him from a mere fungal skin infection, which ultimately took his life.
All dictators and their divine rights find their miserable place in the graveyards of history, where power rests with the powerless as mere decomposed dead bodies. There are many modern examples of tyrannical rulers and their claims to divine descent to justify authoritarianism. Mr. Modi is neither alone in history nor in contemporary times. He has his companions in politics. The North Korean Kim Dynasty, which continues to govern the country, includes Kim Jong Il’s claim of having been born on Mt. Paektu (a sacred mountain) to justify his power, aided by hagiographical and divine framing of his rule. However, waves of powerful mass movements in history swallow all powers and remain a warning to the divine claims of contemporary rulers.
Mr Modi needs to be protected unlike his fellow companions in history. There is no place for assassination and any death cult in modern politics in a democratic society. He can be used as an example how not to be a leader and Prime Minister of a great country like India. As Mr. Modi’s sycophants are busy constructing a “Modi Mandir” (temple), there should also be a Modi museum to document his monumental failures and his manipulative skills—skills that no other Prime Minister of India could ever dream of matching in terms of the mistakes he has made. Grand claims and zero output define Modi’s contribution to India and Indians.
Beyond these individual rulers like Mr Modi and their divine claims to authority, there is a larger political point at stake. The primary objective of such divine claims is to continue governing without accountability, to maintain social, economic, and political order by domesticating and dominating people through authoritarian means, and to override the constitutional and democratic framework of checks and balances. These divine claims by rulers also destroy all conditions of truth, reason, science, and rationality, where knowledge and critical thinking is treated as a crime—as Mr Modi demonstrates by calling on people to “identify and isolate Dimagi Naxals” (intellectual Naxals). These so-called divinely ordained rulers are fundamentally opposed to all forms of scientific, secular, democratic, and liberal knowledge traditions—traditions that empower people and thereby undermine all forms of authoritarian power.
The emancipatory struggle against rulers like Mr. Modi and his so-called divinely ideological apparatus, Hindutva, along with its various majoritarian reactionary variants across the world today, is a struggle to protect and promote scientific, secular, democratic, and liberal knowledge traditions in order to secure peace and prosperity for the people.
