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| The Politics of Religion |
| Wednesday April 15, 2009 , Kanchipuram, India |
It always amazes me how a place of worship can be so full of twisted politics and bureaucracy. It's an old story but it's still disappointing to see the two entwined like this. The headpriest at the Kanchipuram Kamakshi temple rushed us to his house to see photographic evidence of his proximity to BJP leaders. LK Advani had been coming there for years, so had Murli Manohar Joshi. Maybe it was because they were cosy or maybe, the headpriest was actually psychic - he predicted that BJP will win 160 seats and Advani will be the next Prime Minister! The Kanchi Math is of course the one which first played cupid between Jayalalitha and the BJP. So their political role goes way beyond face reading. Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanum is of course one step ahead. The man who used to be chairman of the temple trust is now Congress' main man against Chiranjeevi. And the big scandal in Tirupati is how temple employees are being forced to vote for him. When I asked about the veracity of these allegations, he rubbished them saying there is no need and people vote for Congress any way. Lord, have mercy! |
Sunetra Choudhury started her career as a reporter with The Indian Express in 1999. When she left to join TV in 2002, she was heading the Delhi reporting team that would bring out Newsline. After a brief stint in hindi in Star News, she joined NDTV in 2003. Apart from doing investigative stories, Sunetra has been covering elections since UP by-elections in 2000. While she followed the Congress party in Delhi, she spent six weeks in Gujarat covering 2007 assembly polls, apart from UP and MP assembly polls.
