For the believers, God is the gospel, the truth from where they procure the light of guidance and hope. He is a source of spiritual enlightenment and power. And religion is a set of principles, guidelines and duties revealed by God to human being in order to guide them. A religious person reveres his God and religion with his profound sacredness and sanctity. That is why sometimes, any insult to God and religion invites the fury and outrage of the believers.
But when the same believers use their God and religion to grab power, it explicitly implies that they reduced God to a political tool. For them, God is a political card who garners votes rather than provide spiritual strength. They are disrespecting their own God and religion by politicising them. Why do these so-called religious people disrespect their own God and religion by using them as political cards?
There are two reasons behind this. First, they are not religious at all but are masquerading as religious for power. They are in the garb of religion so that they can grab power by invoking God and religion. If this is the case, the real believers and religious persons must come forward to protect their God and religion from becoming a tool for politics. They should vociferously oppose such politicisation of their God and religion and expose those who are masquerading as religious to grab power. They must not tolerate such use of God at all if they are real believers. It is a test of their religiosity, belief and love for God and how strong their spiritual connection with God and religion is.
Second, if they are using their God and religion for power and are real believers and religious, it means that they can go to any extent to grab power, not sparing even their God and religion. Then, the voter must understand that if a politician or political party can use their God and religion for power, they will certainly exploit them rather than providing service to the people. How can a politician and political party respect the people’s mandate when they are disrespecting their own God and religion for power? How can they value people if they don’t value their own God and religion?
In India, It’s the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and their politicians who have been invoking their gods and temples to garner vote for decades. Other parties also sometime use religion for votes but they don’t claim that their party believes in God or religion. They must be exposed. But the BJP and its politicians have been using lord Ram and Hindu religious symbols such as the cow and temples for decades to grab power.
Recently in the Gujarat elections, the RSS released a poster that describes Modi, Amit Shah and Vijay Rupani as Ram. Do Modi, who was accused as being complicit in the 2002 Gujarat riots, and Amit Shah, who is accused of murders, snooping and fake encounters, epitomise lord Ram? Is this not a grave disrespect to lord Ram? On the other hand, lord Ram has been reduced to a political card that the BJP uses in every elections. Common Hindus must viciously oppose this politicisation of Ram and Hindu religion. The party has been continuously disrespecting Ram by using him as a political tool.