R – Ram Temple | #AtoZChallenge

R – Ram Temple | #AtoZChallenge #BlogchatterA2Z

Any political discussion is incomplete in Indian politics without discussing the Ram Temple issue. Elections after elections, government after governments and manifesto after manifesto…the matter or the dispute more or less remains where it existed. I didn’t find any substantial evidence but I am sure the British would have got a great clue to divide the country along political lines when the first riots broke around 1850 regarding the same issue.
The ideological parent of the current ruling party brought the subject into the mainstream, which became the flag bearer of all the issues for the party since the 1980s. They grew from a dismal 2 seats in the Lok Sabha to a resounding 282 seats on the back of the Ram Temple dispute.
I was around seven years old when the issue reached its tipping point in 1992 following a ‘Rath Yatra’ from one of the founding members of the party. The horrifying blood bath that followed is still fresh in my memory. I just need to close my eyes and I can still see those open skulls, burning screaming souls and charred bodies.
Nearly three decades later, the ones who were in their twenties during the riots are now in their fifties and the ones carrying out the yatra are breathing their last…but the issue is as alive as ever with no resolution in sight.
That sowed the seed of hate forever in so many Indians against each other. We are killing each other for a treacherous act of an invader. For a heinous act committed five centuries ago, what sanity it is, to keep burning humans so that you can justify your agenda.

Let me tell you, no soul ever finds solace by killing another.

I wonder if anyway Lord Ram could see all this – Don’t forget he gave up that throne and land for keeping the words of his mother, I am sure If he would have been alive, he would have given up now too. How can one slash the womb of a lady, take out an unborn and chop it into pieces in front of her and that too on the name of Ram? No lord would want so much hatred and kill on his name.
The irony is that the so-called followers of Ram, do not follow the ideologies of him. To be honest these Ram-Bhakts have started to betray him and become the Bhakt of some other hate spewing supreme commander.
This was the perfect opportunity for BJP to at least start the construction of the Temple rather than just use it as a gimmick once again to trivialize the sentiments of the followers of Ram. With them being in power at the center as well as state, this opportunity might never return for them. Forget about making the country a Hindu rashtra, they can’t even make a temple.
The fallacy in the logic of, that the Jews have their Jerusalem, the Muslims have Mecca, what have Hindus got. As per the Hindu religious texts, there are so many Gods and so many sacred places linked to each one of them. How will you decide which one is the most superior of all? We already have the dhams, the jyotirlings and the shaktipeeths, what would one less or one more temple to do the religion. It’s all in the mind but for that it requires sanity.
The people who have been to the birthplace of Lord Krishna, they would recall that there is a mosque just adjacent to the temple; in fact they share a common wall. Since the beginning of mankind and their arrival in this land, everybody lived in harmony because there was acceptance of everyone.
The people are too blind to see how mercilessly they are being used for their political gains. They claim that there was a temple long before Babar demolished it and constructed a Mosque, a place of worship. It was an unpardonable sin – but wasn’t he a barbaric invader, what else can we expect of him. That in no way justifies you again destroying a place of worship claiming to be the protectant of a religion, which is considered to the most peaceful.
I sometimes think, Did Ram take birth in a temple? Ideally, it should have been a palace given the fact that his father was a king. If that were the exact location of birth then somebody would have destroyed the palace too, to make a temple.
If the court decides on logic and merit some people are ready to burn it…if they simply discuss it as a ‘matter of faith’, they lose their credibility forever. The court itself is caught in a tussle to maintain peace and harmony and somehow give a verdict that pleases every party.
I am banking on the current and future generations that they would evolve above all this and won’t let themselves get divided on religious lines. But sadly a process has been created where people are kept uneducated and jobless so that they are always ready to pick up arms so that they can fight for the religion, whether it is any religion.
It is like the Kashmir conflict; the moment it gets resolved you would not have another issue to invoke your nationalism card on. Similarly the day the temple gets built, the privilege to use of the religious card would also get neutralized.
The best solution lies in creating a facility on the land that serves everyone irrespective of any religion – construct a hospital or school or anything but not a religious structure. The land has seen enough violence and blood and it shouldn’t take another five centuries to resolve the issue. Make sure when you vote, you vote for the future of your child.
For all those who believe the conflict will never be resolved,
For all those who want peace,
For all those who feel all this would have aggrieved Ram,
And
For all those who believe in the ideologies of Lord Ram…
It’s not a goodbye,
But it’s a GOOD BYE.
Manas ‘Sameer’ Mukul
This is the 18th post for the #AtoZChallenge #BlogchatterA2Z. My theme in Politics Category is ‘IPL – Indian Parliamentary League’, where I would be covering some relevant issues with the General Elections 2019 through the course of 26 posts.
Read the previous post here: IPL – Indian Parliamentary League
Please do visit on monday for the next post with letter ‘S’
I am also taking part in the #AtoZChallenge #BlogchatterA2Z using another theme –‘Dubai – City of Gold‘. If you love travel head over to the Travel Theme and share your feedback.