Uttarayan: Why Hindutva campaign to prevent Gujaratis from buying 'Muslim kites' failed

By Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ*

It is late evening, the day after Uttarayan (15 January), traditionally called ‘vasi uttarayan’. It has been a dull, cloudy day; the wind has been fairly good though. Since yesterday thousands have been on building-tops, flying their kites and many others running on the streets to catch the ‘cut’ kites. At this moment, the skies are pocked with thousands of kites, music of every possible strand blares loud from rap songs to the latest Hindi filmi ones, the yells and the screams continue to pierce the air. No match however, for the loud crackers. It is a great day indeed – as people from across the board, bond together to celebrate diversity!

‘Makar Sankranti’ (traditionally on 14 January) is one of the great Festivals of India. It essentially marks the transition of the sun from the zodiac of Sagittarius (dhanu) to Capricorn (makara). As this transition coincides with the sun's movement from south to north, the festival is dedicated to ‘Surya’, the Sun God. It marks a new beginning as in several places it is also observed as a ‘harvest festival’. Across the country, this festival is spread over a period of days – a true celebration of diversity.

The Festival is known by different names across the country: Uttarayana in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, Sankranthi or Peddha Panduga in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Khichari in Bhojpuri region, Magh Bihu in Assam, Maghi Saaji in Himachal Pradesh, Makaravilakku in Kerala, Makara sankranti in Karnataka, Maghi Sangrand in Punjab, Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Maghi Sangrand in Jammu, Sakrat in Haryana, Sakraat in Rajasthan, Sukarat in central India, Ghughuti in Uttarakhand, Dahi Chura in Bihar, Makar Sankranti in Odisha, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Goa, West Bengal (also called Poush Sankranti or Mokor Sonkranti), Besides these, there are other variations and names given in other States to this great festival which highlight the celebration of diversity.

In Gujarat, particularly in the city of Ahmedabad the high point is ‘kite-flying’! There are thousands of kites which dot the skies: all kinds of shapes and sizes , colours and now even texture. It is common belief that a kite is an offering to God, to propitiate ‘Surya’ and thank him for the winter just gone by. The fact is that today ‘kite-flying’ is mainly a source of entertainment (sometimes an obsession), but also one of competition. It is common knowledge that most of the kites and even the manja(kite-string) is made by the Muslim community (they come to States like Gujarat as seasonal migrants from UP and Bihar).

In January 2003, the first Uttarayan after the Gujarat Carnage 2002, the Hindutva elements made an all-out campaign to prevent the people of Gujarat from buying kites made by Muslims. They did plenty of propaganda for ‘kites made by Hindus’! Unfortunately, all their efforts went flat! The people still bought kites they desired too; the ‘Hindutva’ kites had practically no sale – even those sold, were not ‘fly-able’! A pathetic commentary on exclusiveness. The average Indian believes in and celebrates diversity.

What Gujaratis love to eat on this festival is a traditional dish called ‘undhiyu’- it is a mixed vegetable dish. The name of this dish comes from the Gujarati word ‘undhu’, which translates to upside down, since the dish is traditionally cooked upside down underground in earthen pots, termed ‘matlu’, which are fired from above. There are a whole variety of vegetables which are needed to make undhiyu; some are a must like baby potatoes, eggplant (brinjal), purple yam(ratalu), sweet potato, surti papdi, green bean, unripe banana and methi muthia. There cannot be undhiyu if some of these base vegetables are missing. The tasty dish is a veritable celebration of diversity.

The most popular sweet item (dessert) during this festival season is the jalebi! People simply love this deep-fried snack which is dipped into a sugar-syrup before being walloped. Its roots are in Arabia; thanks to Mughals who gave us a whole variety of delicious ‘mithai’ (which we call ‘Indian Sweets’ today!). The all –time favourite snack ( the ones fried in pure ghee cost a mind-boggling Rs. 700/- a kilo this year) not only tickle the taste buds of those celebrating the festival, but it has also been able to demonstrate the fact that we need each other: the best way we can do so, is to celebrate diversity!

It is nearing the end of ‘vasi uttarayan’. The dark skies have phantom kites flying high into it; but all along there are lanterns all lit, deftly tied to the string, which makes one just say “WOW!”. Soon the string will be cut and the kite will fly into oblivion into the night skies! But the kite is free! One is reminded of the poem ‘Untethered Kite’ written by Squid the Russel; some verses go thus:

"I wish I had arms

To reach down

With a pair

Of gleaming scissors

To cut my tether

I wish I had a voice

To tell them what I want

What I think

Because they won’t listen

Won’t pay attention

To my relentless fight

To my constant struggle

Against the confines of my rope

Won’t someone set me free?

Can’t somebody help me?

To become an untethered kite"

The plain truth is that if we truly want to Celebrate Diversity, to embrace differences, to enhance pluralism -we will all have to become untethered kites – free, to go where the wind blows and to ensure change! Above all, to have the courage not to allow anyone else to enslave us or to attempt to chain us down! Let us celebrate diversity- it is our right to do so!

---

*Human rights, reconciliation & peace activist/writer

Comments

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Asbestos contamination in children’s products highlights global oversight gaps

By A Representative A commentary published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) has drawn attention to the challenges governments face in responding effectively to global public-health risks. In an article written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published on March 5, 2026, the author examines how the discovery of asbestos contamination in children’s play products has raised questions about regulatory oversight and international product safety. The article opens by reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that governments in several countries were slow to respond to early warning signs of the crisis. Referring to the experience of the United Kingdom, the author writes that delays in implementing protective measures contributed to “232,112 recorded deaths and over a million people suffering from long Covid.” The commentary uses this example to illustrate what it describes as the dangers of underestimating emerging threats. Attention then turns...

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

By Ram Puniyani The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue.

Authoritarian destruction of the public sphere in Ecuador: Trumpism in action?

By Pilar Troya Fernández The situation in Ecuador under Daniel Noboa's government is one of authoritarianism advancing on several fronts simultaneously to consolidate neoliberalism and total submission to the US international agenda. These are not isolated measures, but rather a coordinated strategy that combines job insecurity, the dismantling of the welfare state, unrestricted access to mining, the continuation of oil exploitation without environmental considerations, the centralization of power through the financial suffocation of local governments, and the systematic criminalization of all forms of opposition and popular organization.

The kitchen as prison: A feminist elegy for domestic slavery

By Garima Srivastava* Kumar Ambuj stands as one of the most incisive voices in contemporary Hindi poetry. His work, stripped of ornamentation, speaks directly to the lived realities of India’s marginalized—women, the rural poor, and those crushed under invisible forms of violence. His celebrated poem “Women Who Cook” (Khānā Banātī Striyāṃ) is not merely about food preparation; it is a searing indictment of patriarchal domestic structures that reduce women’s existence to endless, unpaid labour.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Search This Blog