Thoughts on the Ram Mandir spectacle at Ayodhya
The Prime Minister of the country inaugurating the Ram Mandir at Ram Janmabhoomi turned out to be a spectacle unlike any other in India on 22nd of January this year. Why it was unlike any is simply because a religious event was politicized beyond anyone’s control and the country’s population polarized into a manically celebrative right wing and a pitifully restless left wing. For the lack of any better form of opposition, the dissenters resorted to sharing the preamble of the Indian constitution, desperately insinuating that it was under breach that day. The frantic scraping of the bottom of the intelligence barrel was quite hilarious actually – social media had a field day.
“It was an election gimmick”. Yes, the right wing supporters are beyond aware of this fact that the dissenters are so urgently trying to convince the country, before its too late and the votes are decided. That the temple, which is still under construction, was inaugurated with such pomp and turned into a country-wide spectacle as an election campaign masterstroke is not lost on us. And yet, the majority continues to stand by the BJP for a number of reasons connected to the temple.
The opposition quite factually has no substantial claim to make against the temple that was built after a legal battle was fought for its original place. The Babri demolition incident sure is a political material that the dissenters keep resorting to and there is no ethically sound justification that the right wing can give to it. The dispute has later been settled in court and it has been agreed that the demolition first took place nearly 500 years ago when an invader thought it right to destroy an existing Ram temple and build a symbol of his religious inclination upon it. Little help that he left some evidence for the archaeologists of his act.
And despite the longstanding case in court that was a matter of discussion for so many years, the debate has still not been settled and the new Ram Mandir is seen as a symbol of religious dominance by many in the country. (Many=ones that can’t admit that the majority religion too deserves the same respect as the minorities get.)
Today on Rama Navami, a ‘Surya Tilak’ was cast on the Ram Lalla idol which was a scientific and architectural phenomenon. Lakhs view this temple as a symbol of righteous belonging in this country because it almost felt like Lord Ram made his way back to his country after a long, forced exile. And for the ones that host belief of such proportion, the matters of political gain that the BJP has acquired from this spectacle holds no substance. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP might end up garnering a handful of votes this upcoming elections and end up administering the country for yet another tenure; and then the wheels of political power may or may not turn. But the Ram Mandir will stay.
For another thousand years, the Ram Mandir will stand at its rightful place and this fact is greater than any political gain that the BJP may have fished out of it And if the political advantage is a matter of such concern; no one stopped the opposition parties – one of which was in power for decades before the BJP came in 2014 from encashing it. The minority appeasement agenda did not permit any other political party from making it happen. And when a party that equally embraces the majority religion of the country has taken all spotlight, all intellectual, philosophical and desperate guns came blazing.
The BJP supporters are mostly accused of blind devotion towards the party and are often name-called for their apparent lack of sophistication in politics. Its only funny how the supposed intellectuals who, having read a couple of extra outdated books on Russian philosophy, assume an intellectual superiority over the collective majority and feel free to openly criticize the tolerant Hindu population. The fact remains that the truth of the land has survived an extraordinary number of such naysayers and continues to thrive. Its a good time to be alive; for a political and social enthusiast.
Should I say the three magical words? You guess it. 😉
Jai Sri Rām 😌😎