Kaali Poster Controversy : - So much wrong with majority's fragile "religious sentiments".

In the catena of cases allegedly hurting religious sentiments, the latest in line is a movie poster of Hindu goddess Kaali.

In the poster shows a woman dressed as a Hindu goddess smoking a cigarette, with a pride flag in the background. The film was released only in Canada but many in India like their usual business started the trend of the boycott of the movie.

There are various versions of worshipping the idol. But a narrow-minded perspective always beholds any narrative in a singular fashion.

TMC MP Mahua Moitra recently stated "To me, Goddess Kali is meat-eating, alcohol-accepting"

She said: “If you go to Tarapith temple (in West Bengal’s Birbhum district) and around it, you will see sadhus smoking. That’s the version of Kali people worship. I, within Hinduism, being a Kali worshipper, have the freedom to imagine my Kali that way.”

“If you go to Bhutan or Sikkim, for example, when they do puja, they give whisky to their god. Now, if you go to Uttar Pradesh and say that you give whisky to your god as prasad, they will say that is blasphemous.”

Not just the opposition but her own party members sidelined her for this remark. The opposition took a step further and demanded her arrest.

On Wednesday, she reiterated her statement and elaborated “Bring it on BJP! Am a Kali worshipper. I am not afraid of anything. Not your ignoramuses. Not your goons. Not your police. And most certainly not your trolls. Truth doesn’t need backup forces.”

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor bolstered her up and urged people to “lighten up and leave religion” to individuals to practise privately.

The whole Hindutva brigade geared up since the release of the poster for protecting religious sentiments. A particular depiction of "diverse Hindu beliefs" is against their homogeneous perspective.

This drama is not just limited to this particular incident involving religion. Any expression of religious-based ideology which slightly goes against the narrow interpretation kicks off the storm.

Recently, Mohammed Zubair was arrested for showing a scene from the four-decade-old movie and thereby hurting religious sentiments. The IT Cell of the brigade was busy scorching for the tweets that may slightly be interpreted as religiously inappropriate. The tweet is then taken to be read in different contexts leading to the interpretation of "hurting religious sentiments".

The brigade with the backing of the political party comes out as an identity protector and sets up a narrative that their identity is endangered and only they can protect it.

This helps the political party in the following ways: -

Firstly, the majority is made to believe that only a particular party can protect them from the threats from their manufactured threats.

Secondly, all the main issues plaguing the country like unemployment, inflation, law and order situation etc. do not get a place in the narrative. Everyone forgets these issues and is carried away by the hurting of their religious sentiments.

Thirdly, all the government-funded media gets skyrocketing TRPs out of all these issues further propagating the propaganda of the regime.

Fourthly, this increases communalism, hate and many times riot-like situations leading to division on communal lines thereby securing the vote bank.

This creates a never-ending loop leading to the continuous deterioration of the political, economical and social situation. The loop makes it difficult for any intellectual to come up with a concrete or abstract solution.