Ayodhya – let’s turn the problem into opportunity

by Ashish Deodhar http://www.indianliberals.org/ On the morning of December 6, 1992, the 500 year old Babri mosque was brought down by Hindutva fanatics. Thousands of people died in the riots that followed and the issue has since claimed thousands of more lives in the last 2 decades. The 1993 riots were followed by serial blasts in Mumbai that killed 250, dozens of Hindu karsevaks (religious volunteers) returning from Ayodhya were torched to death and hundreds of Muslims were killed in the retribution riots that followed. In 2005, Islamic terrorists attacked the Ram temple at the disputed site and almost created another “situation” in the country… Needless to say that Ayodhya has inspired the kind of violence only seen during India’s partition and it does not promise to end anytime soon. Now the Allahabad high court is due to give its long-awaited verdict on the Ayodhya issue on the 24th of September. It’s tempting to think that this would finally put the issue to rest. But it would be nothing more than wishful thinking. For the High court is only going to give a verdict on whether or not a temple existed on the disputed site 500 years ago. There are only two options – it could either say yes or no. If it declares that a temple existed on the site, a new wave of aggression could not be discounted. Such a verdict will certainly give the Hindutva brigade the vitality it desperately needs. The Muslims would equally certainly reject the verdict. If the verdict goes in the opposite direction, the Hindutva brigade would reject, and almost certainly challenge it in the supreme court. So whichever way you look at it, this verdict is only going to take us back to the drawing board. Unfortunately, Ayodhya has become a thorny issue for India when it could’ve, nay should’ve, been a shining example of religious tolerance. This could’ve been that one place of worship respected by different religious denominations. I had always thought that about Jerusalem too. And that’s one of the reasons I hate religions – they’ve turned an opportunity to demonstrate universal brotherhood into a problem that defies all rationale, all sense and makes us appear worse than animals. This is India’s chance to turn this problem into a golden opportunity. It’s time for the nation to grow up to understand that a temple built on thousands of innocent people’s graves isn’t desirable. It’s time for the nation to accept that the mosque was indeed a symbol of religious aggression and barbarism, irrespective of whether Ram was born there or not. It’s time for the nation to realize that either a temple or a mosque isn’t going to solve this issue for us. It’ll only be a win-lose situation for the religious lot and a definite lose-lose situation for the rest of us. It is time for us to understand that the only solution that Ayodhya deserves is a monument in memory of all the innocent people killed in religious violence in India and all over the world. Let this monument not stand in the name of Ram or Babar, Hindutva or Islam, but in the name of humanity. Let this monument stand as a constant reminder of human fallacy but also of undying hope and optimism. As India takes the lead in the 21st century, let us also take a moral lead and set an example for future generations to follow.