EDITORIAL: The day, August 5, was deliberately chosen by BJP government to coincide with the anniversary of annexation of occupied Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) with the laying of foundation stone of a Hindutva project. While the Valley remained under curfew and a communication siege Prime Minister Narendra Modi, dressed in religious regalia and surrounded by the chief of his ideological fountainhead, RSS, and priests chanting mantras in Sanskrit, performed the 'bhumi pujan' ceremony in Ajodhya where a mosque stood for over four centuries. Declaring it a 'historic moment', the prime minister of 'secular' India declared "... today the entire country is immersed in the belief of Lord Ram."
It has never been in doubt that the 'Sangh Parivar', as the campaigners of a Hindu Rashtra like to be called, wanted to get even with history. No surprise then that Modi said, "centuries of struggle are coming to an end today". What comes to an official end, however, is the country's founding ideal of secularism, helped by the Supreme Court. It is worth noting that the court had acknowledged that demolition and desecration of the Babri Masjid was in violation of the law, yet it awarded the site to the same religious fanatics who had committed violent, unlawful acts, for the construction of the Ram Temple. And to add insult to injury, Muslims were allocated a five-acre plot for a new mosque, which they readily rejected. Soon afterwards, the Supreme Court chief justice who had authored a blatantly biased anti-Muslim verdict, allowing his faith to overcome the demands of justice, was shamelessly rewarded with membership of the upper house. The RSS-BJP combine is right to claim victory for, and growing preponderance of, its Hindutva politics. They had launched an aggressive agitation for the Ram temple, leading to the tearing down of the Babri Mosque in December 1992 which paved the way for the realization of the temple project. A further sign of their success in the implementation of majoritarian agenda has been a large section of the media and compliant courts lending a hand at every step of the way, from annexation of occupied J&K, the discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens, to building of the Ram Temple.
As expected, Pakistan has expressed its grave concern over "the rising tide of the divisive and extremist ideology", urging the international community, the UN and relevant international organizations to play their part in saving the Islamic heritage sites in India from the "Hindutva' regime and ensuring protection and religious rights of minorities. It is no less worrying for those in India who take pride in the cultural pluralism of their country and its secular credentials as enshrined in the constitution. Many have strongly condemned the unmitigated disaster in J&K and replacement of the historic mosque with a temple. If experience is any guide, it will not be easy for them to push back the forces of bigotry, hatred and intolerance the Modi government has unleashed, at least not in the near future.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
Comments
Comments are closed.