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The stars, numbers and pandits sway politics
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THE general election in India has brought to prominence not only the usual cast of political aspirants, campaign managers, publicists, and vote-brokers, but also an array of astrologers, numerologists, and pandits.
Candidates have been flocking to such soothsayers in large numbers, seeking advice on everything from the precise minute to file their nomination forms to the appropriate alignment of the doors of their campaign offices.
I once wrote that an Indian without a horoscope is like an American without a credit card. That observation shows no sign of losing its validity in the 21st century. It is a truth that seems particularly entrenched in Indian politics.
As a believing Hindu, I make no claims to pure rationalism myself. But I am bemused when a minister’s swearing-in ceremony is delayed because an astrologer told him that the time was not auspicious to take the oath, or when a candidate’s election papers are filed at the last possible minute to avoid the malign influences of the stars at other times of the day.
My favorite story of this type involves a chief minister who refused to move into his official residence because a pandit claimed that it was not built according to the correct spiritual principles of vaastu (India’s version of fengshui), and that he would not fare well in it. The bungalow was reconstructed accordingly, at great public expense, with new doorways and windows realigned to satisfy the pundit. At last, the chief minister moved in, only to lose his job — and his new home — the next day in an unexpected political crisis.
I am all in favor of the innate human desire to propitiate the heavens. I am even prepared to entertain the notion that the cosmos might be sending us signals in every planetary alignment. But what makes us so credulous as to believe that soothsayers understand the code?
Changing names
Not long ago, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu state, the former actress Jayalalitha, decided to add an extra “a” to the end of her name because a numerologist told her that the new spelling would be beneficial to her turbulent political career. She went on to win an election in her state, lost the next one, and now is back in power again.
I suppose it is entirely possible that “Jayalalithaa” has attained political successes that might have eluded a mere “Jayalalitha.” But on what possible basis can it be argued that the addition of a superfluous vowel made all the difference?
Most Indian politicians wear rings with stones tailored to specific planetary conjunctions that are providential for them, or designed to ward off malefic influences from planets unfavorably situated on their birth charts. Many swear it works for them; others take the agnostic view that one has nothing to lose by indulging such beliefs, except the price of the ring — a sort of Hindu version of Pascal’s famous wager.
It turns out that Indians are not the only ones vulnerable to seduction by the Indian “miracle mafia.” Former Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh reveals in a recent memoir that no less a personage than Margaret Thatcher was fascinated by an Indian godman, Chandraswami, whom she received in her office after becoming Conservative Party leader.
The godman impressed Thatcher enough with his mind-reading skills that she visited him again. At this second encounter, Chandraswami prophesied that she would become prime minister within four years and serve for nine, 11, or 13 years (she served for 11).
When Singh, meeting Thatcher soon after she had become prime minister, whispered, “Our man was proved right,” her reaction surprised him.
“For a moment, she seemed flustered,” he recalled. “Then, she took me aside and said: “High Commissioner, we don’t talk about these matters.” Indians do: We may be superstitious, but we are not hypocritical.
Shashi Tharoor is India’s Minister of State for Human Resource Development. Copyright: Project Syndicate 1995-2014. Shanghai Daily condensed the article.
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