Ram Janmabhoomi/Babri-Masjid- The Unending Enigma of Ayodhya

The Globe Theater in London might be famous for Shakespeare’s plays, but it can never surpass the Babri-Masjid Ram Janmabhoomi drama. The case started getting its eyeballs when the mosque was demolished on December 6 1992. And since then it took a dark turn bringing in violence in the heroic scene. Later on a riot ensued, killing nearly 2000 people across the country. But that will not be the end of it. The successors of these riots continued their battle into courts, until the court gave a judgment of division of the land into 3 parts in 2010.

But still the lure of ultimate victory made the parties to disagree. The Jain and Buddhist sects also joined the fight claiming their cultural history on the land and that brought new parties into the bi-party dispute. The enigma still continues to haunt people’s dreams in Ayodhya.

But the Ayodhya issue is not something that has ever remained calm. It was tumultuous then as it is now. The difference lies in that the British were just diplomatic in their approach and much better in suppression of conflict. There have been various accounts of the mosque been built on earlier structures of temples. Some reports and historical records suggest the existence of a Hindu temple before 18^th century. Some claim that there was Jain temple built before 11^th century. Other reports also state a Buddhist vihara existed at that place once. But these claims are all substantiated by equally compelling reports. How can all claims be true? 

But the most important coincidence is that this looks exactly like the problem with the city of Jerusalem and how it is divided between various claims. Some people might say that since the Jerusalem dispute has not been resolved, how can Ayodhya dispute be resolved? And now let us start dating exactly when this dispute had begun. Possibly it might be the 16^th century or 10^th century. And this makes it about 500 to 1000 years old. And we claim that we are one of the oldest civilizations on the planet of the earth. Why then did the knowledge of so many years not help us in resolving this issue? Entire generations lost just so that people can have their ego sated and violence committed.

This is not a new scene in the Indian scenario, where anything can be turned into a business. Be it politics, religion, science or archeology. These themes have always been used to drive the unsuspecting public into mobs, while the owners of such propaganda sit watching the drama unfold somewhere else. Just a simple non-cooperation from the people can solve this issue. The people must not show interest even in the minutest way possible in any development over this issue. The case would then be solved within no time.

But this scheme would also require the media and the politicians to stop raking up the issue for publicity and political stints. Or else Ayodhya will forever be remembered as the place of perennial battle like the wall of Jerusalem. On the brighter side this does bring publicity to the place as such and brings tourists from all over the world. Well won’t that be a business everyone is interested in. Local traders and traditional artisans can try their luck at making a fortune during festivals.

People respond to Power of Thoughts not Pedigree

Yogi Adityanath has been elected as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and the press and TV channels are guessing the agenda of this government already. Some are of the view that this person is going to be against the minorities in the state, some think he will be against the Muslims in the state. All the while this choice has allowed the Congress and other belligerents of the BJP a chance to launch their salvo against the NDA government and PM Narendra Modi. Some other faction thinks that Yogi Adityanath is going to transform UP into an extrapolated Gorakhpur. A few years before when Yogi Adityanath was not elected in Gorakhpur, the city was a mess. Roads could have been a training ground for commandos who want to jump over potholes. Electricity and water was also a major challenge. But Yogi Adityanath changed the city into a ‘mini-Singapore’. Possibly nobody took notice of it.

The state of UP was ruled during the last few decades by parties who divided the state into factions of religions, minorities etc. This had even forced many youngsters to leave their home state and move to Metros like Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai to get a good education and find job opportunities. Because they know that in their home state all this is not possible. They even shifted their families to these cities permanently. Hooliganism in the name of minority status, religion and political affiliation had made the lives of people very difficult in the state. In spite of being such a big state with ample resources these parties forced an entire generation of youngsters to migrate. But Yogi Adityanath or the BJP was not responsible for any of these incidents. Then why is he branded as a fanatic or right-wing fundamentalist?

It is time that we understand that the religion of a person is his personal choice and it has nothing to do with one’s work. The people of India must evolve to get this philosophy in their character. The political parties need to know that people do not respond to anybody’s family pedigree. They respond to the power of their ideas. The BJP has a single-minded approach to its ideas and a strong leadership structure wherein the decision is streamlined and unquestionable. The BJP has a good number of Muslim candidates and minority candidates in it as it has Hindu candidates. But they are not there to practice their religions, rather to do some service to the people.

Comparing a leader who has clarity of thoughts to a dictator who killed millions is just a bogus propaganda designed to paint the leader in the colors of the dictator and taint his image. The media and the press must take on the responsibility to identify this trick and expose it to the public. The power of thoughts and intentions succeeds over all kinds of physical, economic and social powers.

As of now the election of the face of the CM and his Deputies has enamored a great confusion in the state. Maybe the new government can enamor an equal magnitude of accolades in the year to come or divide the state again into factions. Either way, this drama will have a guaranteed number of actors and an even larger audience ready to cheer them.

 

Decision against dynasties

The UP polls marked the highlight of the entire assembly polls season this year. The people of the most populous state in the country took a decision to vote for something other than just caste, religion or minority status. They realized that they were being played by the political parties or should I say political families. These families have divided the entire UP into a number of factions which they used to get into power. These factions were the basis for their power in the state. Also a state that has quite significance because the high number of voters. In terms of American polls this can be compared to the state having the highest number of electoral colleges.

The SP used the cycle, the common mode of transport for the poor in UP as the symbol to get the sentimental vote of the people. But their convoys always had nothing less than 4 wheel drives. The BSP used the minority Muslim vote to get into power and then ignore them and everybody else for the next 5 years. 

From renaming engineering colleges as per their convenience to making monuments that display their grandeur, this state has still not come out of the feudal mentality that people will be impressed by architectural marvels alone. The people gave them a strong message by the landslide victory of the BJP that they want something that is tangible to them.

The only fact that the people of UP understood this is in itself a great achievement and also a testament to the strength of the BJP in the whole country. But also this is a reminder call for the Congress party that they need to think whether they need a change in the leadership of the party and think of themselves as a party rather than a dynasty. Also this is a lesson to the SP that it should have reduced all the negative publicity that it accumulated during the tensions in their party. These events portrayed them as weak. And later they joined hands with Congress which gave the people the impression that it would lead to diarchy.

The people need a strong party and not a face or a family. And this can only be brought about by a strong leadership structure that is impervious of all the factors like family, face etc. It is high time that these parties take note of this.