Justice, Lord Vishnu, and the shoe. Who speaks for the Divine?

By Prof. Hemantkumar Shah* 

Rakesh Kishor, who attempted to throw a shoe at India’s Chief Justice B.R. Gavai, claimed in an interview that he did nothing of his own accord—“I only did what the Divine made me do.”

This controversy began when the Supreme Court dismissed a public interest litigation demanding the proper reinstallation of a seven-foot-tall broken idol of Lord Vishnu in Khajuraho. Justice Gavai had remarked at the time, “Go and ask the deity himself…”

But was he wrong to say that? If Lord Vishnu, considered the sustainer of all, cannot protect his own idol, then what exactly does he do? That question seems fair.

Now, if Rakesh Kishor acted on divine instruction, then—

Why didn’t he accept that Justice Gavai’s words too were spoken by divine will? If the Divine can act through Kishor, can it not act through Gavai? Does Kishor believe that the Divine belongs only to him and not to Gavai—because Gavai is Dalit?

If Sanatan Dharma teaches that everything is done by the Divine, then humans do nothing at all. So when the idol of Vishnu was desecrated during Mughal rule, that too must have been orchestrated by the Divine. One must accept what the Divine does, right?

The Archaeological Survey of India has operated under the watch of Narendra Modi’s government for the past eleven years. Why then has it failed to reinstall the broken Vishnu idol properly in all that time? Our Prime Minister claims to be non-biological. So perhaps he will act only when the Divine commands him to. Until then, he can do nothing about the broken idol.

The Divine instructed Kishor to throw a shoe at Justice Gavai, but hasn’t yet instructed the Prime Minister to restore Vishnu’s idol. Why is that? Do they worship different Divines?

In his interview, Kishor said “the Divine made me do it.” He didn’t say Lord Vishnu made him do it. Yet it was Vishnu’s idol that was desecrated. So if Vishnu didn’t act through Kishor, but some other Divine did, isn’t that an insult to Vishnu? Are Vishnu and the Divine separate? Vishnu is embodied, while the Divine is formless. It’s hard to understand what Kishor is claiming.

Kishor has effectively made the Divine the culprit behind the shoe-throwing. The Divine conspired, and Kishor executed. So shouldn’t we catch the Divine? Until the Divine is found, Kishor must be considered a co-conspirator.

And if I say the Divine instructed me to write this—would that be acceptable too?

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*Senior academic based in Ahmedabad