POLITICS & RELIGION-RIGIDITY IN THOUGHT.

 

While cataract slowly blinds the eye, both politics and religion are lethal as they bind the mind itself and not just the eyes.

Political views are purely based on perception than reality. How did NTR win in the 1983 assembly elections in AP? AP was a very strong pro Congress state always giving the Congress solid majority to govern till NTR came along there was no party worth the name to challenge the Congress even remotely.

Firstly it was the perception that he is always a do gooder who always wanted to help the people. His image built in his movies helped him greatly and all that was perception rather than reality because he had not been generous in helping anyone with his own money before entering politics. 

Of course the Anjaiah incident with Rajiv Gandhi created anger in the people of AP which the NTR could convert into an act against the Telugu pride. Of course, despite his eccentricities NTR did try his best to give out schemes for the poor people and he did think of the people and there is no denying that. It was he created the TDP which even today is a powerful force in Andhra Politics.

It was this perception that gave NTR a landslide victory to a party established just 9 months before that. This landslide victory against the Congress had a lot do with perception of the people. This is precisely the reason why the present day political parties, be it in the state or at the centre have a strong media presence both on TV as well as social media.

Because of this perception war people who favour parties idolize the head of the party and no criticism on him/her is tolerated. That totally blinds people to all logic.

In the case of religion it is different. A person who follows a religion thinks his religion is the ultimate and no religion is an exception to that. The fact happens to be that it is a perception just like in the case of politics. 

Hinduism formed about 3500 years ago, Christianity 2000 years ago and Islam 1400 years ago. When the religions formed the social circumstances were totally different and each religion had a society that shaped it. So these religions reflect the needs and thoughts of those times. 

No doubt the basic human nature has not changed from then and now, but the societal structure has changed completely. Today the world has drawn closer by the information revolution and the internet. We instantly know what is happening in Iran. At the time of formation of the religions very few people knew that Iran existed, and such events petered in to educated people (who were only a few) years later.

So the world at that time was more insular and ideas percolated very slowly among the society. In the meantime the priests of the religions, looking at the personal benefits accruing claimed that they are the intermediaries to God and increased their power. 

So for them bringing in ritual and theology became more important tools to claim their own special status with god. They became the ultimate arbiters who decided what is good and what is not in relation to God. At every stage of the human race the priestly class interpreted religion to its own benefit.

It was those gentlemen that made religion more rigid and said thinking anything outside that is blasphemy and irreligious and have therefore limited human thought on that. It is they who by their preachings and ritual made religion rigid and created a feeling that their religion is the best in the world. 

This strong perception that was created in the minds of the people on religion is the one that binds people in thought. So on religion people do not think and simply believe that whatever they believe is right and final and no one can question it.

That is how politics and religion became final and beyond all logic for its followers. Therefore for most people who are strong followers, those beliefs cannot be challenged at all, and neither can they be tested with logic. When one binds their minds in that fashion, how can there be any discussion or openness on those topics? They become the final frontier that nobody can dare to touch and get away.

So with anyone known to us, be it our friends or relations we should tread very carefully on these two topics and the make a light discussion rather than going into an argument. Because that serves nothing and would only alienate those people from us.