Pay-off for sadhus

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Chhattisgarh has been energetically promoting its spiritual Hindutva agenda by organising the Rajim Kumbh, a pilgrimage at the confluence of three rivers in the state, every year. But this year it faced a distinctly temporal crisis from the Naga Sadhus who poured in from across the country. The sadhus' grievance was the token honorarium the government was paying them to attend the event. The resentment became embarrassingly public when the sadhus surrounded the officials concerned, and then gave them a chase when they ran for safety. Later, the sadhus sat in dharna to attract the government's attention. Eventually, some high-level intervention ensured that the honorarium was increased (though the amount was not disclosed), but the controversy could have hardly enhanced the attractions of the state-sponsored brand of religion.