BackOpinion | An Ayodhya of antiquity may brighten our future
The consecration ceremony for a Ram temple in Ayodhya marked the end of a movement that led the BJP’s ascent to power. Now the party must devote itself to peace and prosperity
PremiumPrime Minister Narendra Modi described it as an “emotional moment for the entire country" when he laid the first brick on Wednesday for the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya. It was the end of a long wait, he said. Indeed, it was an occasion of high significance in the arc of Indian history since independence. The site consecration ceremony was the climactic point of a socio-religious movement that altered Indian politics and catapulted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to political prominence. A little over three decades after the party launched an agitation for the Ram temple, it now commands a parliamentary majority unseen since the mid-1980s. The spot once had a 16th century mosque that was razed illegally in 1992 by a mob mobilized on the claim that it stood on the ruins of an ancient temple built to mark the deity’s birthplace. While Hindu-Muslim relations were ruptured by the dispute, the passions stirred by those events have long subsided. A referral of the case to the law has had a role in this, as also a dedication of our collective energies towards economic growth as a way to achieve a better quality of life for everyone. The title suit of the Ayodhya site has been settled in favour of a temple by the judiciary. The challenges of growth, though, still need to be addressed.
Last November, the Supreme Court awarded the contested 2.77 acres of land in Ayodhya to Hindu litigants on the basis of what it called a “preponderance of probabilities" that it was under Hindu occupation for a longer period in history than Muslim. It allotted a separate plot of land to rebuild the mosque. With the decks thus cleared for a Ram temple, the BJP-led government seems to have taken up the project as a matter of priority. Work starts right away and the monument is expected to be ready for devotees in three years. This seems timed for the 2024 general election. To the extent that it will allow the BJP to declare fulfilment of a focal item on its electoral manifestos down the years, it is likely to aid the party’s re-election campaign. Its association with the temple is evident even to millennial voters, who may or may not be acquainted with its origins. Many early champions of the cause were conspicuous by their absence at Wednesday’s ritual. Party patriarch L.K. Advani, who led a chariot rally from Somnath to Ayodhya in the early 1990s and set the stage for dramatic events to follow, skipped the event on account of his advancing age and risk of covid exposure. Murli Manohar Joshi, another leader of the agitation, was not present either. Nor was Kalyan Singh, who was Uttar Pradesh’s chief minister when the mosque was demolished. But then, the party has always considered the temple a mission greater than the individuals involved. The judiciary’s stamp of approval was accompanied by directives on how it would be built, which appeared to grant it the status of a public project.
As construction gets underway, gladdening the hearts of millions who longed for a Ram temple on this hallowed site, the BJP leadership would do well to use the pride generated to promote an era of communal amity. All through the ages, peace has been found to precede prosperity, almost as a precondition. As forces, the two can also be mutually reinforcing. As covid-19 takes its toll on our well-being, it’s all the more important to devote ourselves to India’s economic emergence.
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