By Ram Puniyani

The RSS-combine must adhere to the law of the land to solve the Ram temple imbroglio so that Hindus and Muslims live in harmony. Demanding that Ayodhya should be earmarked as the holy land of the Hindus only will add fuel to the fire of communal unrest.

ON THE tragic day of December 6, 1992, the Babri Mosque, a 450 years old archeological structure was demolished by the RSS-combine, (RSS, BJP, VHP, Bajrang dal and other progeny of RSS). A make shift temple was hurriedly constructed at the site. The RSS-combine has been pressing since then for the resumption of its efforts to build a Ram temple at the site since they claim that the Babri mosque was built by demolishing the Ram temple. This claim is not backed by historical and archeological data. The argument put forward was that ‘faith’ will decide the birth place of Lord Ram and the Sangh Parivar will be guided by the mahants and sadhus about the future course of action.

Meanwhile four court cases are going on in the Allahabad High Court Lucknow bench on the title of the land issue where the masjid was located. Of these four cases, the arguments in three of the four Ayodhya title suit cases have been completed. The arguments for the fourth case will be over by July 2010. While one case is holding up the result of these court cases, the RSS combine has already planned to build pressure for constructing the Ram temple irrespective of the outcome of the court cases. The cases pertain to ownership of the land where the mosque was located. The VHP-combine etc. is asserting that no mosque will be permitted in Ayodhya. As per the VHP, a mosque has to be outside the shastriya seema (boundary) as stated in the Ramcharita Manas (The Ram Legend by Tulsidas) of Ayodhay - meaning thereby that Ayodhya is a holy place of Hindus only. Meanwhile, the BJP and other associates have been instructed to step up the demand for building the Ram temple at the precise spot where they had demolished the mosque on December 6, 1992.

NO WAR ZONE

IT must be made clear that Ayodhya means (A+Yudhya: a no war zone). It is not only holy for Hindus. Ayodhya has been a focal point of many religions, Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism. From about the 5th century BC a fairly large Buddhist community was living in Ayodhya. Though this religion suffered a setback during the first millennium AD, several remnants of its existence did survive. According to Jain tradition, Ayodhya was the birthplace of the first and fourth Tirthankara. The early places of Hindu worship of Ayodhya were of Shaiva or Vishnu provenance. The specific worship of Rama even as an avatar of Vishnu is a much later development. References to the image of Rama appeared only in the 6th century. Nawab of Awadh region, where Ayodhya is located, had given land for the biggest temple in the area, Hanuman gadhi.
One of the arguments being put forward is that the state should take up the building of the Ram temple at Ayodhya the way Somnath temple was built by the state. L K Advani and many others have been claiming that the Somnath reconstruction was done as per the decision of the Nehru cabinet. This is a total lie. Since public memory is short anything propagated repeatedly gains credibility, the way Hitler’s propaganda minister Gobbles used to do. Contrary to this, a peep into recent history shows that the Indian government had nothing to do with the reconstruction of Somnath temple. The lie that the Nehru Government had reconstructed or supported the Somnath reconstruction is a distortion of the fact that two ministers of the Nehru cabinet were involved in the reconstruction in their personal capacity. As such, when the idea of reconstructing the temple at Somnath was mooted by Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Mahatma Gandhi opined that Hindus are themselves capable of building the temple and they need neither government’s money nor any assistance for reconstruction. He was of the opinion that the government should not give money for such a construction.

With the death of Sardar V Patel, K M Munshi and N V Gadgil, who were ministers in Pandit Nehru’s cabinet, took up reconstruction work on a personal level. There was no question of the reconstruction proposal being passed by the cabinet as falsely being claimed by the communal forces. After the completion of the temple for its inauguration, the then President of India Dr. Rajendra Prasad was invited. He accepted the invitation against the wishes of Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru opined that public officials should never publicly associate with different faiths and shrines.

FALSEHOOD

THIS falsehood is being deliberately put forward to pressurise the authorities for the temple construction irrespective of the court ruling. Today nearly two decades after the demolition of the Babri mosque, we have seen how much damage the Ram temple campaign has done to the political scene in the country. One also recalls that immediately after the Babri demolition, the then prime minister Narsimha Rao had proclaimed that the Babri mosque will be rebuilt at the same spot because accepting the outcome of demolition will give legitimacy to the criminal act perpetrated by RSS-combine.

At the moment, there are diverse opinions about what should be done at the site. Most of the Muslim groups have committed to respect the court’s verdict. The VHP-combine, on the contrary, is campaigning for the temple irrespective of the outcome of court cases. Even before the demolition they had asserted that it is ‘faith’ and not the law of the land which will guide their actions. In a democracy, it is the law of the land which should dictate the policies of the state and the actions of political groups. At this crucial juncture, what is needed is to give the utmost respect for the law and promotion of communal amity and national integration, since the demolition of the masjid, communal amity in our country has deteriorated. The suspicions about one another and the communal divides have widened and there is a setback to the concept of the rights of the weaker sections of the minorities.

The spreading of lies and emotive campaigns by political parties are not in accordance with the values of the Indian Constitution. The elected representatives of people are duty bound to follow the Indian Constitution, so all concerned must uphold the values of the freedom as enshrined in the Indian Constitution and let the court judgment be the decisive factor of the future course of action in the Babri masjid imbroglio.