Step apart, ‘Kaun Jaat Ho’, Prashant Kishor’s new toolkit is all about ‘Gotra’

What begins from getting his politician-clients admitted to a hospital, the flowery path ends at getting them photographed in a temple simply earlier than the elections. Such is the artistry of Prashant Kishor’s toolkit. In a political panorama the place caste politics play larger roles than growth, there’s a new entrant: Gotra
Turning his purchasers from a ‘true secular’ (right here the that means of secular is demeaning Hindus whereas holding others near coronary heart), to a ‘saccha Hindu’, appears to be an integral a part of Prashant Kishor’s technique.
In one such closing try, West Bengal CM was heard citing her ‘Gotra’ in a political rally. Mamata Banerjee, immediately taking a visit down the reminiscence lane, narrated, “During my 2nd campaign, I visited a temple where the priest asked me my ‘gotra’. I told him – Maa Maati Manush. This reminds me of my visit to Tripura’s Tripureshwari temple where priest had asked me my ‘gotra’ & I had told him too ‘Maa Mati Manush’, actually I’m Shandilya.”
During my 2nd marketing campaign, I visited a temple the place the priest requested me my ‘gotra’. I advised him – Maa Maati Manush. This jogs my memory of my go to to Tripura’s Tripureshwari temple the place priest had requested me my ‘gotra’ & I had advised him too ‘Maa Mati Manush’, really I’m Shandilya: WB CM pic.twitter.com/EpxQWOHh0M— ANI (@ANI) March 30, 2021
So whereas Banerjee catered to the ‘secular’ voters by claiming how her get together’s motto is her ‘Gotra’, she slyly talked about how she is a Brahmin with Shandilya Gotra. In Hinduism, Gotra is broadly lineage which signifies that folks belonging to similar Gotra are descendants of an unbroken line of similar male ancestor. So, ‘secular’ Mamata is not solely a Hindu, however a Brahmin belonging to a specific Gotra, Shandilya.
What appears to be the final resort, Kishor will get his politician purchasers to go to temples, chant non secular slogans and even recite ‘Chandi Path‘. When none of it appeared to have labored for Kishor or his consumer, the politician was made to disclose her lineage within the closing try and show her Hindu-ness.
Well, this isn’t the primary time that the politicians have been seen speeding to show their Hindu identification.
In 2018, when BJP criticized the Congress chief, Rahul Gandhi for his temple photo-ops, he retaliated saying that he’s a ‘Shiv Bhakt‘. During a temple go to in Pushkar, a priest who carried out puja for the chief knowledgeable that “(Rahul) Gandhi came and offered prayers at the ghat. He also said his gotra is Dattatreya. Dattatreya are Kauls and Kauls are Kashmiri Brahmin”.
Rahul Gandhi addressing a rally in Assam. Image Source: ANIWhich is stunning, since Gotra is determined by unbroken line of male ancestors and his grandfather, Feroze Gandhi is believed to be Parsi, who should not have the Hindu system of caste and gotras. Now, some biographers and writers have claimed that Feroze Gandhi ‘converted’ to Hinduism for his marriage with Indira, however Indira had denied any such ‘conversion’.
Further, even when he did get ‘converted’, the he doesn’t get a Gotra. Essentially, Rahul Gandhi utilizing his nice grandfather’s Gotra to determine himself as Hindu Brahmin, is technically fallacious. Some even prompt he adopted his grandmother’s Gotra, which she had ‘adopted’ from her father. But that argument is as hole as the whole lot else Rahul Gandhi does.
But it looks like Kishor doesn’t fairly care about getting details proper if it solves the aim.
However, Prashant Kishor’s ‘gotra’ technique is giving a troublesome battle to Ravish Kumar’s ‘kaun jaat ho‘, who has no qualms in asking folks on-screen what caste they belong to.