EDITORIAL: India’s ultra Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a past master at using religion for political gains, presided this Monday over a grand spectacle of inaugurating Ram Temple in place of the 16th century Babri Mosque demolished in 1992 by BJP veteran LK Advani (interestingly, he has skipped temple consecration citing ‘cold weather’)-led frenzied mob, igniting communal riots that left nearly 2,000 people dead, a vast whelming majority of them Muslims.
Two Shankar achariyas - top Hindu religious teachers - though refused to participate in the ceremony because, according to them, Modi was not qualified to perform the consecration of Ramlalla idol; and no less important, the temple is still months away from completion. But for Modi time was of essence as the general elections are due in less than four months time, i.e., come May. He needed to be seen performing religious rituals surrounded by priests and chief of the RSS - ideological fountainhead of his party, the BJP, as well as other Hindu extremist organisations - to burnish his Hindutva credentials.
The daylong event was supposed to be a religious celebration the underlying message, however, was that by erecting a temple to the mythical birthplace of Lord Ram where a mosque stood for centuries, Modi had gotten even with the history pertaining to Muslim rule.
He proclaimed the temple inauguration as a “new era” for India, signalling the country’s switch from its foundational ideal of secularism to wholehearted embrace of a Hindu Rashtriya in which Muslims, some 15 percent of the population, can live only as second class citizens.
Mindful of its implications, the Foreign Office in Islamabad rightly described the event as a “symbol of growing majoritarianism and an affront to the Muslim community in India.” The developments leading to the consecration ceremony, said the FO statement, “constituted an important facet of the ongoing efforts for social, economic and political marginalisation of the Indian Muslims”, calling upon the international community, including the UN, to take notice of the increasing Islamophobia, hate speech, and hate crimes in India and also to take action to protect Islamic heritage sites. That though is a vain expectation.
Predictably, the Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), the 28 opposition parties’ front, preparing to contest the upcoming elections against the ruling coalition, boycotted the temple event. “One must not mix religion and politics, Lord Ram is not an event,” averred a Congress party leader.
Kerala’s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had urged the people to reaffirm their commitment to the secular credentials of the nation and its institutions by declining to be a part of the Ram Temple affair, but was disappointed to learn that the line that demarcates religion and the state “seemed to be getting thinner.”
Experience of other traditional societies in the region shows it is easy to blur that line under official patronage but too difficult to go back to tolerant, conciliatory ways, if and when so decided.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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