The Return of Rama

Contrary to the expectations of the secular and liberal media millions of Hindus both in Bharat and worldwide are eager to see the Rama temple rebuilt on the Rama Janma Bhoomi site. This sentiment was reechoed by the leader of the RSS, Shri Mohan Bhagwat in the week of the postponement of the High Court verdict.

In a well modulated blog Sagarika Ghose of CNNIBN expressed the liberal view quite gently but incorrectly:

“ India in 2010 is a very different country from India 1992. Ayodhya the article of faith, Ayodhya, the political symbol, is very much alive. But Ayodhya, the inspiration for a mass movement, seems to be an idea which has been overtaken by the opportu nities and hopes of a new century and a whole new generation of voters born after 1992” (‘Ayodhya in New India’ CNNIBN,Sept.23,2010).

This is wishful thinking. Yes, there will not be the kind of mass movement as happened
in 1992. The Sangh leaders have unanimously opposed any violent interventions by devotees or kar sevaks. Instead there will be recitals of Hanuman chalisas and Hanuman Jagruta  prayers. Perhaps the idea of the Hanuman led devotion is a brillian thought of the Sangh Parivar, since Hanuman is the very essence of devotion in Hindu thought.

It seems unlikely that young Hindus no matter how preoccupied they are with their daily life’s problems and challenges will forget Hanuman. No amnesia induced by the modern life style and the artificially induced cravings for wealth and wordly success will stand the wave of Hanuman led devotion to Rama.

And indeed the young should be encouraged to uphold the dharmic ideal of righteous Governance that Rama stands for. That would mean the conscious upholding of dharmic values.In Rama’s Ayodhya there will be prosperity for all,  equal treatment of all human beings, the absence of greed, respect for the planet and the entire universe.  Mega corruption under the guise of modernity will be imposing a death sentence on the young. Hanuman’s prayer to Lord Rama will be that such a consummation should not fall on Bharat’s young !

Thus far in the 60 plus years of Bharat’s political independence the advances in Dharmic governance have not proceeded as quickly and as deeply as they should have. It is time for the evil of bad governance to end. And what better place than to start with Ayodhya?

Prominent leaders of the Hindu community have approached Muslim leaders for a reasonable settlement. And progressive Muslims seem to think that Ayodhya is central to Hindus and not to Muslims. A reasonable settlement has been proposed by the Sangh : if the Muslim community can agree to the rebuilding of the Rama temple at the site of the Badri masjid, then the Hindu community will help in the building of a mosque near by.

Afterall, the Babri has existed only since 1528. The Rama temple goes back to the 10th Century A.D. and the religious consciousness of Hindus regarding their avatars goes back several millennia.

The liberal media should focus on the above aspects rather than hoping that the problem will go away. The liberal media should contribute creatively in encouraging the young to engage in dharmic courage. They have the model of Lord Rama whose qualities of steadfastness  and obedience to the moral law embodied in Dharma required immense courage. It is all too easy to chase after the siren of excessive modernity. All too easy to send the young down the path of mere mindless materialism, without the accompanying values of responsibility to their fellow beings.

After the long night of two Occupations, it takes immense courage for the people of Bharat to crawl out from poverty and outmoded social practices and move forward once again into the promise of the Indian Constitution. Nothing in the Indian Constitution contradicts the Dharmic ideal and vice versa. And nothing in well calibrated development contradicts the Hindu ideals of wealth and prosperity. It is not an either or situation: either wealth(and modernity) or poverty and dharma. If the latter were true Bharat would not have been the prosperous and wealth producing country of ancient fame prior to the start of the two Occupations.

Ayodhya did not start in 1992.  And Ayodhya is not just a small plot of land as historian Ramachandra Guha said recently on a publicly televised debate. It has been Bharat’s dream since the journey began some 5,000 plus years ago. It is in every Hindu’s heart where it has not been corrupted by bad governance.

Jai Shri Ram !

(The writer is a Political Philosopher who taught at a Canadian university)

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