The Costume of Control: How India Was Trained to Obey the Robe

 

The Costume of Control: How India Was Trained to Obey the Robe

Hindi Version of the Article: https://rakeshinsightfulgaze.blogspot.com/2025/11/blog-post_10.html

Social engineering doesn't start with laws; it starts with perception. It begins the moment we stop seeing the person inside the clothing and start believing in the power of the clothing itself. Over time, the dress becomes more important than the man. A judge's robe, a priest’s saffron cloth, a graduate’s gown, these weren’t just clothes; they became coded signals of truth, intelligence, virtue, and authority. But when the person inside is unqualified, corrupt, or manipulative, those clothes don’t stop being respected; they just become more dangerous.

India is a society where this visual conditioning has been running for thousands of years. We've been trained to obey appearances. We’ve been conditioned to surrender before the sacred robe, not because of what it represents, but because we've forgotten to question who’s wearing it.

In ancient and medieval India, the powerful didn't need to conquer with weapons; they used symbols. A certain caste, a certain color of cloth, a seat near a temple or a fire, they were all strategically positioned to manipulate public faith. The spiritual hierarchy was engineered by the elite, using ritual and costume as tools of control. The Brahmin was not always the wisest; he was just dressed like the wisest. The rituals were not about truth; they were about obedience. And the gods? They were slowly turned into profit centers.

This manipulation wasn’t accidental. It was institutional. It taught people to follow men in robes, even when those men offered no reason, no reform, no knowledge just repetition, ritual, and rule. And now, this same system is being repackaged and deployed at the highest levels of Indian politics.

Today, the ruling BJP is not just using religion; they are using the machinery of centuries-old social engineering to reshape the nation. They are not leading India forward; they are dragging it backward from a knowledge-based society to a faith-based state. Saffron is no longer just a color; it’s a political weapon. Holy men are no longer just spiritual guides; they are power brokers. And the robe is no longer a sign of renunciation; it’s a marketing tool for the party.

The new Sadhu-politician hybrid is being used to erase scientific reasoning and replace it with mythology. Schools are being influenced by religious ideology. Public policy is being shaped by temple networks. And ministers speak more about gods and rituals than about innovation or critical thinking. This is not a revival of Indian heritage; it’s the reactivation of an old control system under a new name.

Compare this to what’s happening in functioning democracies. In New York City and Virginia, voters are choosing leaders based on competence, not costume. Religion, ethnicity, or immigrant status is not a barrier to leadership if the candidate has a vision for development and governance. That’s what logical societies do: they prioritize results over robes.

When voters think critically, democracy thrives. When they ask for policies instead of blessings, they get schools, hospitals, and jobs not temples and sermons. When people demand answers instead of rituals, leaders are forced to lead not perform.

India has the intellectual capacity to do the same. But it is being held hostage by a system that rewards performance over substance. The godmen and ritual conductors we see on TV are not isolated figures. They are the front end of a larger machine funded by oligarchs, protected by politicians, and promoted by media that profits from the spectacle. Behind every televised blessing is a calculated distraction. Every televised prayer is a signal: don’t ask questions, just believe.

This is not about disrespecting religion. Faith, when personal and genuine, can be a force for good. But blind faith, engineered faith, politicized faith that is a trap. It is designed to shut down thought and elevate obedience. It’s how people end up worshiping their oppressors and attacking the truth-tellers.

We see it every day: a man who sells tea gets ignored, but the same man in a monk’s robe is treated like a prophet. That’s not divinity. That’s conditioning.

The tragedy is not that people believe. The tragedy is that they no longer ask why they believe or who told them to. The price of that blindness is a nation losing its grip on logic, science, and progress. The country that once led the world in mathematics and philosophy is being told to bow to slogans, statues, and ceremonies instead.

India stands at a turning point. Either it will wake up and reclaim its identity as a society of thinkers, inventors, and reformers, or it will continue to fall under the spell of those who wear power like a costume.

The robe is not the truth. It’s a uniform. And when we stop questioning who wears it, we stop being free.