A BJP leader is about to go on yet another campaign swing disguised as a yatra (Hindu pilgrimage). The tour features a rather pimped-out motorhome which the political party calls a rath (chariot). The party doesn’t even attempt to hide its appropriation of religion, but at least there’s a Batmobile factor:
The high tech rath has all sorts of conveniences for the leader of [the] opposition in Parliament, including a restroom, a toilet, wardrobe, satellite TV with LCD screen, wash basin, hydraulic lift for two persons [for campaigning from the roof], sofa set, bed, 10 floodlights, six speakers and a public address system…
… the vehicle [is] not bullet proof… [Link]
It has a hydraulic lift — imagine a politician rising up from the floor like some enraged gopher, theatrical deus ex machina or Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard. Dramatic.
The rath can’t possibly look any odder than the Popemobile:
The popemobile is an informal name for the specially designed vehicle used by the pope during public appearances… Several models have been used…
… yet another is a modified Mercedes-Benz with a small windowed “room” in the back where the Pope stands. Since the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II in 1981, the popemobile was fitted with bulletproof glass on four sides…
… it had bulletproof windows, bombproof parts and it was inspected by the Swiss guards… Past popemobiles were adapted Mercedes-Benz G-Class off-road vehicles, and current models are actually based on the ML-series of off-road vehicles sold in the United States. [Link]
Here’s how one past campaign bus looked:
You know I really want the BJP to win and I want to see an NDA government at the centre and in all the states. i broadly agree with their view of the world. I also hate Congress, the Neru-Gandhi clan type politics and the Left Wingers.
I honestly do think the BJP are the future of India.
But I also think the BJP needs to reinvent itself with some great new ideas. As such Advani must go and leave the BJP to formulate those new ideas. Party bikering must stop too.
One only has to look at Nitesh in Bihar to see what a sound NDA government can actually do. It is crucial for the future of India for the NDA/ BJP to win in 2009.
I think the Rath Yatras are therefore left back in the 90s.
But the hydrolics, where are the hydrolics? You can’t get the youth vote without hydrolics!
hmm, spontaneous vision: a bunch of Bajrang Dal activists switch off lifting up the front and back of the motorath while the ABVP shouts from the side, “Yo son, that shit’s illllllll!” The candidate perched on the roof gets a bit queasy and does, in fact become ill.
sorry, hydrolics = hydraulics, and I meant of this variety, not just the lame-o roof lift.
damn! and thats all our tax money?!
BAHAHAHAHAHA
You’d think with the whole history of Indian art at their disposal, they’d come up with something less butt-ugly.
Wow, even the Pushpakha didn’t have satellite TV.
Yeah, they just had the “divine vision” back then…whatever that was 🙂
R
The Kerala Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy, has got one too. He slipped and broke this hip at the WEF in Davos. The political parties pay for them, Chandy\’s cost the Congress party about INR 250,000 to pimp up.
For the uninitiated, Oommen Chandy roughly translates to “Kiss my Ass”. Right, ANNA?
Hehe almost tambram, almost 😉
some observations…the arm of the man on top of this site looks provocative….is it just me?
Wait a sec. Tambram…wouldn’t Oommen Kundi be “kiss my ass”?
Here we go again 🙂 I guess you are right Pedantic. I guess Oomen Chandy would translate to “Kiss my butt cheek”. Of course, that is just splitting cheeks…er, I mean hairs.
ish, i dont think govt pays the bill of these raths. Parties arrnage them themselves. And Yatra is not Hindu pilgrimage but translates just to journey.
I wonder: what is it about a journey that makes politicians and their spin doctors excited? Is it not a cliche? Haven’t we all seen this before?
OMG….i love the popemobile. i remember laughing at it everytime it came on telly. makes me wonder what will become of it now. the rath looks a bit like a firetruck from that one angle.
Any of you catch that “Family Guy” episode with the PopeMobile? Hilarious – There is a “..to the popemobile!!” ( say it like “..to the batmobile!” 😀 ).
Beware the rath of Advani! [Spooky music plays]
I am BJP supporter too, especially after Advaniji praised great nana’s best friend Jinnah. I hate the nehru gandhi clan too but they might make me a PM soon so I will keep my hate secret for the time being. Please don’t point out this comment to mummyji, she might get upset and make Priyanka the PM. We don’t want another dadi clone to lead India…….that would be a disaster.
Manish,
I think it is not very accurate to call this yatra as Hindu pilgrimage. BJP or for that matter LK Advani are not projecting it as a religious affair. As far as I remember the first Rath yatri was NT Ramarao and he was as secular as they get.
I will in general second Shiva, BJP will do well to disassociate itself from people like Togadia or Sudarshan.
Regards
Which is why they’re calling it a rath yatra. This terminology is straight out of the Ramayana.
Manish (21#)
Term “Rath Yatra” has religion origins, just like “Crusade” has. However in the context it is a political vehicle rather than being a religious one, just like “Crusade against corruption” has nothing to do with religion.
Regards
It’s a chariot yatra, not just a yatra– that’s from the Mahabharata. But I defer here, maybe it’s so common as to have lost its religious connotation to the ears of Indian residents.
Independently, given the BJP’s communalist history, it’s pretty clear what the implication is. Just like a Crusade for Election in the American Bible Belt means something quite specific, or a Crusade Against Terrorism in a Muslim country.
Manish (23#),
Yes Rath == Chariot. Yes the symbiology is from Mahabharata. Many symbols in the modern culture are derived from religious symbols (Red cross for example). Last it might shock you but BJP on average is no more communal than so called secular parties.
Regards
Which is why its major planks include an Ayodhya temple, banning cow slaughter and banning religious conversion.
Manish (25#)
Banning cow slaughter:- Stupid, but actually it is one of the directive principles of Indian constitution. Since independence many states have prohibited cow slaughter, not all of them ruled by BJP or Jan Sangh.
Banning religious conversion: – I think it is Banning “religious conversion by coercion”.
Reconstruction of Ayodhya Temple: – (1) Sardar Vallabh Bhai constructed Somnath Temple. (2) It was Rajeev Gandhi who opened the locks of Ayudhya temple. (3) Indian state milks temples for the money to use for other purposes.
Regards
Gaurav – is right. Even the only Islamic majority state in the Indian Union banned cow slaughter.
While I understand the danger and futility of reclaiming Hindu temples, by judicial diktat or by force, the fact remains [unacknowledged by the marxists, albeit] that hundreds of temples [during the Islamic colnisation of the India of yore] were razed to be replaced by mosques. Contrast India’s reaction in this matter to that of enlightened Europe’s.
But who’s going to clean the jakes of rath? (sorry ;))
interesting observation