South Central 57: Chandrababu Naidu’s RSS shift and the Kochi Biennale controversy

In this episode of South Central, hosts Dhanya Rajendran and Pooja Prasanna first discuss the recent political developments in Andhra Pradesh, including CM Chandrababu Naidu’s growing affiliation with the BJP. They are joined by Professor K Nageshwar, a politician, academic, and political analyst.

Dhanya starts the discussion by recalling how CM Chandrababu Naidu has been switching his affiliation towards Hindutva by praising Hindu epics and promoting popular culture rooted in Hindu Myths.

“I do not equate Hinduism with Hindutva. Spiritual Hinduism is absolutely fine, but political Hinduism or Hindutva is a problem. In Andhra, the TDP’s conscious followers fear that Naidu’s endorsement of Hindutva may benefit the BJP and not the TDP. Naidu’s frantic bid to show himself a close ally of Modi is paving the way for the BJP to grow, not the TDP. To reap political mileage against Jaganmohan Reddy, Naidu, who is a practising Christian, is also playing into controversies like the Thitupati laddu row,” says Professor Nageshwar.

Pooja asks if Naidu is competing with communalism in some way, and Professor Nageshwar says that both Naidu and Pawan Kalyan are competing with the BJP. 

“BJP is not a powerful player in Andhra, and Jaganmohan Reddy being a Christian, makes Naidu and Kalyan think they can garner the Hindutva political space. That is the political objective; they are not really communal, but cleverly trying to capitalise on the Hindutva space and emotion, which is now gaining large momentum across the country. How far this will yield dividends will have to be seen,” adds Professor Nageshwar. 

In the second part of the discussion, the hosts delve into the controversy at the Kochi Biennale, where a painting by artist Tom Vattakuzhy, titled ‘Supper at Nunnery’ was withdrawn due to pressure from Christian groups. The hosts also discuss resistance to art in general, and are joined by Kavitha Balakrishnan, an art history lecturer, poet, curator and author. 

Dhanya recalls how the exhibit was withdrawn at the Biennale in Kerala. The painting was in controversy earlier also, when it was published in the magazine Bhashaposhani. It is said to be an adaptation of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper, wherein, the disciples are replaced by nuns and Jesus by a naked Mata Hari, who was a German spy during the time of the first World War.

All this and more. 

Tune in to the discussions here 

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Audio Timecodes 

00:00:00- Introduction 

00:02:05 - Headlines 

00:10:10 - Andhra Politics 

00:52:05 - Kochi Biennale Row 

01:15:39-  Recommendations 

References

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Produced by Bhuvan Malik, edited by Jaseem Ali and written by Sukanya Shaji.