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http://www.rediff.com/news/report/atheist-siddaramaiah-and-gods-changing-role-in-

politics/20130513.htm

Atheist Siddaramaiah and God's changing role in politics : May 13, 2013 11:41 IST

Karnataka Chief Minister K Siddaramaiah's atheism is not a new trend in Indianpolitics, points out Archis Mohan.

KSiddaramaiah, a rare Indian politician who wears his atheism on his sleeve, took theoath as the next chief minister of Karnataka on Monday by solemnly affirming to beartrue faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India.

Siddaramaiah's atheism may not have been noteworthy if the news of his election onFriday as the next chief minister of Karnataka had not been drowned out by footage on

television channels of Pawan Kumar Bansal and his wife feeding a goat at their NewDelhi home, ostensibly to propitiate Gods and ward off 'evil'.

Bansal quit as the railways minister hours later. And in some contrast the same day in

Bangalore, the Congress Legislature Party selected atheist Siddaramaiah to be their

leader.

Incidentally, Defence Minister A K Antony, yet another atheist, headed the group of

observers comprising senior Congress politicians who oversaw the process.

Antony and Siddarammaiah are politicians known to stay away from such stratagems as

feeding goats or relying on soothsayers to save theirkursi.

Interestingly, both Karnataka and especially Antony's home state Kerala have had atradition of atheist politicians. S Nijalingappa, the Karnataka chief minister in the 1950s

and 1960s and credited as the maker of modern Karnataka, was an avowed atheist.

In Kerala, the influence of Communism meant a legion of atheist politicians like E M S

Namboodiripad, E K Nayanar, V S Achuthanandan, etc.

But Antony isn't the lone atheist in the central Cabinet. He has such figures as FinanceMinister P Chidambaram, Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy, Home Minister

Sushilkumar Shinde, Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily and Road Transport andHighways Minister C P Joshi for company.

In 2009, all of them took their oaths of office solemnly affirming their faith in the

Constitution and not in the name of God.
http://www.rediff.com/news/report/atheist-siddaramaiah-and-gods-changing-role-in-politics/20130513.htmhttp://www.rediff.com/news/report/atheist-siddaramaiah-and-gods-changing-role-in-politics/20130513.htmhttp://www.rediff.com/news/report/atheist-siddaramaiah-and-gods-changing-role-in-politics/20130513.htmhttp://www.rediff.com/news/report/atheist-siddaramaiah-and-gods-changing-role-in-politics/20130513.htm


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And then there are others like Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh who calls

himself a Hind-Budh, but shocked many of his ilk of believers when he advised that

people should construct toilets instead of temples.

While these politicians may come across as exceptions, there was a time in the first two

decades of Indian democracy when atheism seemed more of a rule for the leading lights

of the Indian political landscape.

None other than Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru led the atheistic brigade. He being just

one of a pantheon of towering Socialist, Congress and Communist leaders, all of them

avowed atheists -- Ram Manohar Lohia, Jayaprakash Narayan, A K Gopalan, V KKrishna Menon, etc.

It was also the time in Tamil Nadu that E V Ramaswamy Periyar led the Dravidian

movement with rationalism being its bedrock.

In his autobiography, Nehru wrote: 'What the mysterious is I do not know. I do not call it

God because God has come to mean much that I do not believe in. I find myselfincapable of thinking of a deity or of any unknown supreme power in anthropomorphic

terms, and the fact that many people think so is continually a source of surprise to me.

Any idea of a personal God seems very odd to me.'

Similarly, Periyar was virulently anti-God and famously said that only barbariansbelieved in God. Some year back, the then Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi,

also a follower of Periyar, raised hackles when he said Lord Rama was a myth.

The controversy died down a bit when Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani said herespected atheists and also the atheist in Mr Karunanidhi, 'but holding a highConstitutional post as a chief minister, he (Karunanidhi) should not be saying what he

has been on Lord Rama.'

Interestingly, even Vinayak Damodar 'Veer' Savarkar was an atheist.

None of these yesteryear politicians were known to visit temples or worship. But ourcurrent day politicians like Siddaramaiah, Antony, Chidambaram and others keep atheism

as their private faith and are known to visit temples, dargahs and churches.

Siddaramaiah was quizzed by journalists about his being an atheist when he visited atemple recently. Siddaramaiah replied, 'I have visited temples before, I am doing it now,

but I have never performed pooja at home.'

Antony is known to visit a church in his village at least once a year along with his family

to take part in the prayer in his departed mother's memory.


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Chidambaram also visits the famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala near

Tirupathi once in a while.

If not the fear of God, but the fear of wrath of God's followers -- the voters -- thatprobably makes even the most atheist of our politicians to bow before Gods, if not at their

homes than at least in public.

Image: K Siddaramaiah, Karnataka's new chief minister. Photograph:

Madhusudan S R

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