The Ayodhya Judgement And Challenges Ahead
By Rahul Pathak
21 August, 2010
Countercurrents.org
Something worth noting is brewing in the saffron cauldron and preparations are on as the date of judgement of sixty year old Ramjanambhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute is coming closer. Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has initiated a four month campaign from August 16 which will touch at least 8000 places in the country under the banner of ‘Hanuman Shakti Jagran Samiti'. The VHP website announces that parishad plans to reach out to around two lakh villages, apart from the urban areas with two major objectives; firstly to make a bid to transform it into a ‘people's movement' and secondly to reach out to the younger generation. The VHP has said that the campaign would be steered by saints and seers and not by political leadership and the VHP saints have already made up their minds about the title suit, “We will honour the judgement only if it supports the case of Ram Mandir, otherwise not”. During the inauguration of the launch of public awareness programme of Shri Hanuman Shakti Jagran Samiti the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mr. Mohan Bhagwat said that “Ram Mandir is a matter of faith for crores of Hindus and cannot be built simply judged by a court judgement. We will ensure that it is either built by consensus or through struggle”. In Ayodhya, a non-stop recitation of Hanuman Chalisa in 121 selected temples was started to mark the official launch of the Hanumat Shakti Jagran Anusthan. In a coverage by Times of India, Ram Vilas Vedanti, who has been Member of Parliament twice from Faizabad and active member of VHP says that, “The timing for the launch of Hanumat Jagaran has been carefully chosen to coincide with the Judgement, we are actually aiming at a mega-buildup nationally after the monsoon when the issue is taken to people in Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Patna, Indore and other big towns.
The whole campaign has been on the anvil since long and was meant to coincide with the court judgement. Some VHP saints have said that “Lord Hanuman needs to be reminded of his might now and then. He tends to be quite oblivious of his true potential”, they suggest towards the symbolism that this campaign is a wake-up call required to bring out the ‘hidden potential' of the members of affiliated groups like Bajrang Dal. It is also important to note that the Bajrang Dal will be finishing its one year of silver jubilee celebrations in October this year and they will like to finish it with an impact. VHP International president Ashok Singhal has been reported as saying “There may be a lot of violence but we do not know…there may be a lot of conflict in the country…only other course is that Indian Parliament should unanimously pass a legislation to construct the Ram Jamnabhoomi Temple which would avoid any confusion…We do not know what the court is going to decide. The entire hindu community, which does not know its strength, should awaken, we are a peaceful society, but do not know our strength”. The wake-up call propaganda started in July when VHP dispatched 1,008 boxes of ‘Mahaveeri' (the vermilion applied to lord Hanuman's idol) across the country as a grim reminder to the cause. The act was a follow-up on the decisions taken after the VHP central executive meeting in early July. One of the major decisions that were taken in that central executive meeting was to reach out to the younger generation which was born around the time of Babri demolition. The parishad's national secretary Vyankatesh Abdeo was reported to have said, “That generation has grown up with the perception that VHP is bad, we want to place facts before them and change their perception”. More than five lakh copies of a booklet Ha Ghya Purava (Here are the facts) in Marathi and other regional languages have been printed to distribute among the youth masses to provide a VHP version of the history of Babri demolition. VHP also plans to have wider presence on cyberspace through social networking websites to reach to the younger generation and organize signature campaign with a target of around ten crore signatures. Vishwa Hindu Parishad has an increasing presence on social networking sites like facebook, orkut, twitter and on other online sharing portals like You Tube and Scribd.
Under the preview of all these developments the law and order situation is tensed on the ground in Ayodhya and Uttar Pradesh. The Director General of Police office has sent an action plan to the state government and has asked the District Magistrates and SPs of the districts to be on an alert. The state government has asked the centre for an extra force of 450 companies of para-military forces for preparation of the possible turmoil. The other concerned camps have also swung into action following these developments; the Babri-Masjid action committee has sent a report to All India Muslim Personal law board and in a statement has appealed to the secular forces to oppose the conspiracies to disturb peace and appealed to the Muslims to pray in Ramadan for the judgement to be the favour of secular forces. The voices on the streets are apprehensive about the future events, In a report of Times of India by Manjari Mishra, Khaliq Ahmed Khan, convener of Helal committee says “Last time, three months after a similar meeting was held in Ayodhya, the Babri mosque was razed to ground and now the follow up, we definitely have a reason to be concerned”. The president of Ayodhya Vyapar Mandal Mr. R.S. Gupta says “Though at the moment things seem peaceful, it could well be a lull before the storm”. He has demanded extra security to the town during this period. Ram Sanehi, a tea-stall owner in Tedhi Bazar locality sums up the feelings of poor caught in politics by saying “ Ab dar lagne laga hai ”.
These events are not happening in isolation and are integrally linked to political developments that are happening in the country at the time. The Kashmir issue is burning at an all time high since the Babri demolition, the nationalist sentiment is ever increasing on these issues and there is disconnect from the UPA government in the Hindi heartland because of the inflationary challenge. The two politically important states of Uttar-Pradesh and Bihar face elections in the next two years and the right wing parties face the challenge of increasing influence of secular mindset in the country. A disturbance is necessary to draw a political advantage from the present state of things and thus the ‘Mandir-Card' can be helpful to the party affiliates of RSS-VHP. The Uttar-Pradesh BJP chief Mr. Surya Pratap Shahi has reiterated his party's commitment to build a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya since he has assumed office under Mr. Gadkari. The district administration has banned his entry into Ayodhya citing peace reasons during the ongoing Sawan Jhula Mela which attracts thousands of devotees. Earlier, Shahi along with his supporters has proposed to visit Ayodhya to take vow during the mela to build a Ram temple at the disputed site. Similar voices from the right wing parties and their ‘civil-society' affiliates suggests towards a possible comeback of Ram and Hanuman in the national headlines in next few months. Whether these developments will be able to make some mark on the socio-political space of the Hindi heartland will be visible only after sometime, but certainly the secular forces and the government should be prepared for any challenge that may emanate from these fringes.
(The author is with Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and can be reached at [email protected] . The views expressed here are personal)
