×
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Sanctifying a blueprint for New India at Ayodhya

Modi and Bhagwat have a proclivity to claim their sentiment as universal and the passion of the Hindu community for Ram as shared by the entirety of Indians
Last Updated 07 August 2020, 10:28 IST

The Bhoomi Pujan ceremony for the Ram temple at Ayodhya by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a significant milestone on several pathways. But, more than being the penultimate event (the completion being the destination) in the timeline of the most divisive, yet triumphant, mass movement in Independent India, the function marked the formal unveiling of guidelines for social conduct, personal belief and relationship between the individual and the State, now formally an unquestionable synonym for the nation.

In his standard length speech (a shade more than half-an-hour), Modi laid out what could well be the blueprint for the New India he evocatively promises to deliver to the people. In smaller measure, he was backed by Mohan Bhagwat.

Old positions, renewed utterances

It is not that the prime minister or the RSS sarsanghchalak said anything dramatically new. Many of their articulations were paraphrases of postulations uttered by those associated with the RSS, VHP and even BJP in the past. But Modi's assertions carried a different weight given that these were not made at a political rally, a party conclave, during a partisan political debate in Parliament or any other state legislative floor. Instead, these words were uttered by an Indian premier after personally performing a religious ritual publicly that was hosted by a private body (Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust is a 'private' body) during a nationally televised (at the exchequer's cost) function. It was choreographed to the last nod and facilitated by the state government, with the Uttar Pradesh chief minister virtually acting as the 'host'.

To return to what was said on this in the past, there are the words of Atal Bihari Vajpayee who held the agitation to be a "symbol of national sentiment." He was speaking as prime minister during a debate on the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi dispute in Lok Sabha on the eve of the anniversary of the demolition in 1999. In his speech after the watershed ceremony, Modi said he was confident that the now-in-sight temple would be emblematic of the abounding heritage of Indian culture and that he was certain that the temple would inspire entire humanity till eternity.

Foisting a narrow interpretation

It is true that the character of Ram and the Ramayan as epic has inspired – and continues doing so – people across faiths and cultures. Even the now abhorred Alamma Iqbal, for being designated national poet of Pakistan, wrote evocative lines in praise of Ram:

Hai Ram ke vajūd pe Hindostāñ ko naaz

ahl-e-nazar samajhte haiñ is ko Imām-e-Hind

(India is proud of the existence of Ram/ Spiritual people consider him prelate of India)

But the plurality of the Ram tradition, the innumerable interpretations and manner of depiction of him and the tale, was negated in the course of the three-and-half-decades old agitation for the temple. Not all Ramayans in India and abroad narrate the way the story and the character has been depicted in the course of this agitation. In their place, a singular or narrow view has been foisted on people. Recollect the systemic campaign in 2008-09 to ban the essay, entitled ‘Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and Three Thoughts on Translation’, by the historian, poet and litterateur A K Ramanujan and strike it out from the reading list of a Delhi University course. The attack was because not all versions of the Ramayan followed the narrative the sangh parivar wanted to universalise in contemporary India.

Paradoxically however, Modi fell back on not just this myriad tradition, but revived the old way of hailing Ram – Siyavar Ram Chandra ki Jai and Jai Siya Ram – instead of the weaponised and Sankritised rendition used as a war cry in the course of the agitation. The diversity and multiplicity of the epic and its central character was significantly evoked by Modi to make an important political point: That Lord Ram is revered in Indonesia too, which houses the world's largest Muslim population. Does this not bolster pan-Islamism? After all, the message was to Indian Muslims, that their co-religionists in the archipelago idealised Ram and they too should follow suit. But this call to Indian Muslims to follow the footsteps of people of the same faith is dangerous, because not all Muslims may follow the Indonesian tradition and instead are on a path of violence and retribution.

Equating ‘Hindus’ with ‘Indians’

Modi and Bhagwat have a proclivity to claim their sentiment as universal and the passion of the Hindu community for Ram as shared by the entirety of Indians. Bhagwat said with the Bhoomi Pujan the process for constructing a virtuous abode for the self-awareness required to make India into a self-reliant nation (now a Modi copyright) had been started. It is ironical for leaders to reiterate at a major milestone of an agitation that pit one group of Indians against another that the foundational belief of our civilisation remains ‘vasudhaiva kutumbakam’ (the world is one family).

Modi drew parallels between the freedom struggle and the temple movement. He said Gandhi drew Dalits, tribals and OBCs into the movement and the Ram Janmabhoomi movement followed suit. Modi made no mention of Muslim participation because it would be tough to draw parallels between the two. His speech in fact, left no space for people of other faiths but to believe in the greatness of Ram as dictated by the supporters of the temple movement.

The prime minister said that the Ram temple shall be the modern emblem of Indian culture, eternal faith of people, their national spirit, collective resolve of crores of people. It is worth recalling that while awarding the entire land at the disputed site to Hindu parties, the Supreme Court also asked the government to allot a "prominent and suitable" five-acre plot for Muslims to construct a mosque in Ayodhya. This land has been allotted, albeit at a faraway place near the highway to Lucknow.

All imaginations of a collective walk into a rosy future would sound genuine if the government took even half the interest in the mosque-to-be and facilitated its construction if need be. Modi's utterances of following Ram's inclusive ways and following his vision of taking care and empathising with each subject would appear genuine when he turns up to participate in a function to mark construction of that mosque. If he makes no effort in that direction, he would remain on the path of social exclusion his ideological mates have followed in the course of the agitation.

(Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay is a Delhi-based journalist and author. His latest book is RSS: Icons Of The Indian Right. He has also written Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times (2013))

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author’s own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.

ADVERTISEMENT
(Published 07 August 2020, 09:58 IST)

Follow us on

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT