Ayodhya Ram Mandir Archives - Lokmarg

Shakeel Qureshi, a seasoned theatre personality based in Delhi, says if we turn all historical events into a vicious negative with violence, our future will be grotesque. His views:

Unity in Diversity: it’s intrinsic beauty and bonding, the manner in which the entire country of India – Hindustan – wears it like an ornament, is not only a precious childhood inheritance. It is a stream which is eternally flowing in our veins. I agree that some of us, that people who are like us – they have tried to rip apart the painstakingly stitched social fabric of India. They are still at it, and Haldwani is the latest example of the communal hatred which is affecting our social collective. There is a fear simmering in the air, and there is certainly a tangible sense of hatred stalking the land.

These people who are spreading fear and hate, they are not aware that once you start assaulting a helpless citizen in a closed room, he is forced to withdraw. But how long can he withdraw in a closed space? He is pushed to the wall, and when he has no recourse left, and when he just can’t manage with non-violence or a rational argument to save his body and soul, he has to retaliate. He has no option left.

Are we, indeed, trying to create such a pessimistic scenario, especially in the Hindi heartland?

Those who are relentlessly spreading hate and divisions in our secular society, they will not only bear the consequences in their own lifetime, but they will also bestow it on their future generations. This is a food which would always be unpalatable, but people will be forced to swallow it.

ALSO READ: ‘BJP Has Raised And Dumped Ayodhya Issue Cyclically’

I would reiterate, that humanity seems to be dying in contemporary India, but it can never be murdered. It will always remain alive, pulsating. I am certain, where ever they are spreading this poison, the collective chorus against this polarization, for a secular democracy, will emerge from there itself.

We are all dependent on each other as social creatures. We cannot do without each other, whatever be our identities, caste, religion, class. A person who dyes clothes, he does not look at clothes in black and white. In his tin of miracles there are many colours. He makes a kaleidoscope of colours which makes the world look beautiful, and we too feel beautiful wearing those vibrant colours!

As far as aesthetic beauty is concerned, we were once upon a time trained in the idea and praxis of beauty in our social life, in our arts and culture, in our dance, theatre, cinema and music. Now, a stagnant stasis seems to have arrived. We seemed to have hit a tragic crossroad whereby all that was pristine seems to have become dead and sterile.

People seem to have lost the capability to mingle with each other; find a shared synthesis in love and compassion. There seems to be a collective loss of belonging to each other. Everyone seem to be looking at each other with doubt and disbelief.

This contemporary era of India needs brotherhood and sharing, and we have to work hard for it – with honesty and commitment.

The demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, is a black spot on India’s conscience. Even then, almost the entire media and nation called it a black day. As a young person, we saw the violence. In campuses and colleges, debates, cultural programmes, theatre and film-screenings were disrupted routinely by the rowdy followers of polarization who were brazenly undemocratic. This pattern has been going on since then.

Coincidentally, I had passed the entrance exam of FTII, Pune. When I went for the interview, I was asked: “As a Muslim citizen of India, how do you look at the demolition of Babri Masjid?”

I had responded by saying that in FTII there is a studio of legendary filmmaker V. Shantaram, which is a ‘monument’ and it must be eternally preserved. However, if some people want to damage it, will you allow that?

That is, if you don’t like such an act, then how can any Muslim or Indian citizen appreciate the demolition of a mosque which has been there since so long? History gives birth to the present, and without our history, we have no present. If we choose to turn all historical events into a vicious negative with violence, then our future too would turn grotesque

In this context, please allow me to share a poem which I have written recently.

‘Distance and Relationships’

From my house, my ‘babu’s’ shop was not distant, at the corner of the Harphool Singh Basti… the ‘jungle-waali masjid’ would smile, once we zigzagged from one lane to another, we would say hi, hello!
The bells of the Arya mandir would create ripples in the body, and the sublime shabad in the Gurudwara would create sweet sensations, healing our soul…
If you cross the Sadar Thana Road, you would discover a stone coloured with saffron under a tree, which would protect the Bajrangbali, Hanuman…
They were all so dear to me…Like a beloved….

(The narrator has worked with the doyen of Indian theatre, Ebrahim Alkazi, film producer Anand Mahendroo and filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia. He also dabbles in wood carving and photography)

As told to Amit Sengupta

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While the prime minister hops from one temple to another, and much of the mainstream media has gone on a relentless frenzy about the Ram mandir in Ayodhya, there is no doubt that India is steadily moving towards becoming a theocratic State. That the incomplete temple is the trump card for the BJP in the 2024 polls, especially in the Hindi heartland, is now as clear as daylight. This is yet again evidence that performance and good governance will be pushed to the backdrop, yet again, while social polarization and Hindutva would be the magic wand that the well-oiled BJP-RSS electoral machinery, with deep pockets, will wave in this election year.

It is being projected that the Hindi belt is going through a kind of religious resurrection, propelled by the ruling party in the Centre, and the constitutional principle that the State should be non-partisan and neutral in terms of the religious affairs of citizens, which is essentially a matter of private choice, has been effectively dumped. And, thus, the sacred preamble of the secular Constitution of India, and the values and ideals of the freedom movement – in which the Sangh parivar did not participate, nor make any sacrifice – too, has been dumped into the trashcan of history.

The walls of Delhi and its open spaces, for instance, have been glorifying the pran pratishtha ceremony all over the place, markets and shopping centres have joined in, government holidays have been declared, tempos playing loud devotional music float inside residential areas, and committed RSS cadre have gone from door-to-door distributing little packets with rice, a photo of the temple, and asking people to light diyas in their homes and in mohalla/colony celebrations. Amidst this organized political mobilization in the garb of religion, the PM is temple-hopping or posing for solo photo shoots, even while it is obvious that he is followed by a battery of camerapersons, officials, media and armed commandos.

Forgotten is the fact that the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the bloody aftermath in the Hindi heartland, was universally described then by the media and the nation as a ‘Black Day’ in the history of our secular democracy. A dark shadow of doom and disbelief had descended over India. Scores of journalists were beaten up and robbed in Ayodhya, the preparations for the organized demolition was in full swing much before the eventful destruction, top BJP leaders and certain loyalist-journalists were openly seen celebrating, while the then Congress PM, Narasimha Rao, alleged to be a closet RSS-lackey, chose to look the other way.

In the current circumstances, therefore, the theocratic dimension has become so brazen, that calling India a secular democracy seems like a misnomer. Besides, the ideological division between the North (barring Punjab and Himachal Pradesh), and South and East India, seems starkly apparent, as always in the past. Bengal and South India have been steadfastly holding the secular flag, and the drubbing which the BJP got in Karnataka recently is a big pointer. Besides, what the world now thinks about the ‘largest democracy’ remains an open question.

Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra Part II is gradually gaining momentum, starting with the effort to heal the still simmering wounds of Manipur, which continues to witness routine killings of citizens and security forces. The fact is that the prime minister, an avid traveller to distant places, has not visited Manipur till date, while his discredited chief minister continues to goof up and display brazen partisanship. As the yatra moves inside Arunachal Pradesh from Assam, even while there seems a near-total blackout in mainstream media, it is a reminder that the seven sisters of the Northeast, sensitively located on international borders, continue to remain distant and alienated from the mainland.

However, amidst this organized cacophony of the Ram Mandir, certain significant signs have emerged in the INDIA alliance which promise, if not promising hope, then, at least, a semblance of strategic and tactical fight. For once, a cocky Congress, which has the knack of snatching defeat from a certain victory, lost three crucial states in the Hindi heartland, including the two in which they were ruling. This has led to the BJP pumping its muscles and Narendra Modi absolutely confident of making it as well in 2024 – all they now need is the blessings of Ram, a surge in Hindutva, and the consequent polarization on the ground. The flipside is that if the Congress had won, it would have once again started flexing its one-upmanship, and the India bloc would have floundered.

ALSO READ: ‘BJP Has Raised And Dumped Ayodhya Issue Cyclically’

Now, the Congress has done at least two things which seem perfectly reasonable. One, they have abandoned the soft-Hindutva card (blatantly used by an arrogant Kamal Nath in Madhya Pradesh) by refusing to join the mandir inauguration, and second, that they have promised to restrict the party to 255 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. Not only the Congress, almost all the parties in the INDIA bloc refused to go to Ayodhya on January 22. This is certainly a good sign, and reinforces the opposition space as a secular space and defies the partisan dominant narrative.

Second, seat-sharing talks have started happening at a rate faster than imagined, and with reasonable consensus and flexibility. Even Akhilesh Yadav, who has already clichéd a deal with the Rashtriya Lok Dal in Western UP, is ready to be consensual, despite the fact the Congress, foolishly, refused to give his party even one seat in the assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, like it did with other smaller parties in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. With no base left in UP, Priyanka Gandhi having failed to break ground in the last instance, the Congress would do well to climb down from its disproportionate demands, and follow the dharma of the alliance. If the BSP joins the alliance in UP, despite the loud opposition of the Samajwadi Party, it might not be a cake-walk for the BJP.

The AAP has finally opened talks with the Congress, and their joint Mayor candidate in Chandigarh is a potential sign of unity. While the AAP must concede more seats in Delhi and Punjab, the Congress would do well to accommodate them with a big heart in Haryana, Gujarat and Goa. All forms of symbolism helps in a protracted tactical struggle.

The Congress has only two Lok Sabha seats in Bengal which Mamata Banerjee is ready to give them. These are their traditional strongholds in Murshidabad/Behrampur and Malda, Its demand for more seats, therefore, is unreasonable, as is the aggressive stance of Adhir Ranjan Choudhury. The CPM is a spent-force in Bengal, with zero seats, even while it should remember that its cadre and supporters voted for the BJP in the last general elections – leading to the BJP getting 18 MP seats, an impossibility at one time.

With the South firmly out of the BJP’s grasp, and Bengal and Punjab too joining, if the Opposition alliance can restrict BJP to less than 250 seats in the cow belt, then there is a real chance for a new government arriving in Delhi. Or else, the secular democracy that is India, will definitely enter an era of doom, and it will be once again, darkness at noon.

Tag: Ayodhya Ram Mandir

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