This is the story of Lord Ganesha beautifully depicted on a kite, his unavoidable loss of face enforced by the moral policing Hindutva Brigade, who, ironically, claimed to protect his image.Months ago, I had written about the beautifully designed kite depicting Lord Ganesha having been forced out of the sky by the moral policing HIndutva Brigade. The kite with the most lovable visage of Ganesha was painstakingly crafted by the artists of Team Mangalore using the best of cloth and materials, many of which were imported. The moral terrorists who claimed to uphold the ‘dignity’ of Hindu gods and goddesses objected to the trial flight of the kite. Although they did not have any clear answers to how the flying of a kite, prepared with all the love, care and reverence by god fearing Hindus, would insult the dignity of Ganesha, its trial had to be abandoned in the face of the terror tactics of these self proclaimed defenders of Hindu religion and culture. Even Lord Ganesha could not defend himself and had to beat a retreat into the shed.
The Moral terrorists could tie the hands of the artists and kite flyers, but can creativity be cowed down by brute force? The pained artists redesigned the kite. The half broken tusk of Ganesha was replaced with a full one. Ganesha turned into Gajaraja, the elephant. And the kite was hoisted to the skies of Ahmedabad during the International Kite Festival. It won wide applause and also an award, presented by none other than the chief minister Narendra Modi, the icon of the Hindutva brigade!It is not clear whether the artists of Team Mangalore were happy. It is also not known whether the people of Gujarat or their chief minister were aware of the preceding events in Mangalore that involved the moral terrorists. The fact remained that the most respected and loved image of Lord Ganesha had to be sacrificed to fulfill the foolish demands of the moral police whose claim, ironically, was to defend it.
This episode is just one of the many examples of the counter productive and destructive results of the foolish ideology of Hindutva and the terror tactics that emanate from it. If even after 17 years, Lord Ram has to remain confined in the make shift temple at Ayodhya, what else can be the fate of Hindu Dharma or Hindu Culture or anything else that these morally and ethically bankrupt bigots claim to defend?
