Dear reader,This week, a video clip of a group of people worshipping Prime Minister Narendra Modi at New Delhi’s Press Club of India (PCI) went viral. Unsurprisingly, it triggered an uproar, with many on social media questioning people performing an aarti for the idol of Modi with a bow in hand. Participants chanted “Jai Jai Modi, Har Har Modi” while a banner read “Bhagwan Shri Narendra Modi Chalisa”.One participant was heard saying on camera that a Modi temple would soon be built in Bihar for Rs.112 crore, with a life-size golden idol of Modi, and the National Democratic Alliance government in Bihar would allot land and money for it.A rattled PCI quickly denied all responsibility, posting on X that it had given the venue on hire to an organisation that had claimed it was holding a press conference.Earlier, in July, a representative of the transgender community in Bihar had announced its intent to dedicate a temple to Modi. The Bihar State Transgender Welfare Board, which functions under the State government’s Social Welfare Department, had also approved the proposal. News reports quoted Board member Rajan Singh as saying that since the transgender community in Bihar does not have a temple of its own, he had proposed building one for the Prime Minister because he gave respect and rights to transgender people.This is not the first time someone has tried to add a divine touch to Modi. Who can forget the beat of the song “Jo Ram ko lekar aaye hain, hum unko lekar aayenge [we will bring to power those who brought Ram],” performed by a local singer, Kanhaiya, in the run-up to the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election?Criticism had already followed the Patna temple news, but the Chalisa event went viral because it played out in the national capital and because the venue was the PCI.In many Hindu households, the Hanuman Chalisa is a regular feature, although chalisas in the name of other gods are sung too. A well-known Sanskrit line, “stotram kim na tushtaye [whom does praise not make happy]”, is often invoked to explain why there are so many chalisas in the names of Hindu gods.In a country where religious sentiment runs deep, politicians appear to have taken the cue.Not long ago, a viral video showed a young man singing a chalisa for the newly appointed Bihar Chief Minister, Samrat Choudhary. Choudhary was later caught up in a different kind of “Chalisa” row, when Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leaders mocked him for “still reading Lalu Chalisa” even after Lalu Prasad had relinquished power long ago, because of his repeated potshots at Lalu.Singing a chalisa has helped some climb the ladder of success. One was Brahmanand Paswan, who rose to become a Rajya Sabha MP after writing the “Lalu Chalisa” in the 1990s, which RJD supporters sang at gatherings across Bihar. He went on to contest the 2014 Lok Sabha election on a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket from Jamui, Bihar.In 2023, the Bhojpuri singer Labherilal also performed a Lalu Chalisa, and others have followed, but none has matched Paswan’s success. Perhaps the chalisa trick works best for the first mover.BSP workers, too, have composed chalisa-like songs in praise of the party’s founder, Mayawati. I recall attending a mega rally of hers in Delhi in 2009-10, where the song “Dalit Singhni Mayawati” played on loudspeakers, sending supporters into something close to a trance.A BSP supporter, Shambhu Nath, who wrote a Mayawati Chalisa, described it as a tribute to how she broke through caste barriers. Another writer reportedly sought permission to pen a “Maya Puran” while a film, Behenji—The Great Sister, based on her life, was in the making. Ajay Sheel Gautam, who wrote a “Behenji Chalisa” and became a close confidant of Mayawati, used to sing at her rallies and was rewarded with the status of a state minister. He later moved to the BJP in 2019, but found little success there.Mayawati’s old adversary Mulayam Singh Yadav was not to be left behind: Kamta Prasad Keshri, a homoeopathic doctor and Yadav loyalist from Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, wrote a 40-verse “Samajwadi Chalisa” in 2012, timed to Yadav’s 74th birthday, that placed the Samajwadi Party (SP) leader on something close to a divine pedestal. Keshri also promised a follow-up, an “Akhilesh Chalisa”.Songs praising Indira Gandhi as Durga, sung by Congress supporters, and the temple-style potri (invocation hymns) that AIADMK cadres once sang for the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa are similarly well-known.But as the debate over the phenomenon continues, so does the phenomenon itself. From Chief Ministers to Prime Ministers, chalisas have found their subjects. Devotees have found their gods, and sycophants have found their idols.What do you make of this extreme worship phenomenon among politicians and many ordinary Indians? Is it a bid for validation, or simply the easiest way to catch the leader’s eye?Until the next newsletter.Anand MishraPolitical Editor,FrontlineCONTRIBUTE YOUR COMMENTS