The long-awaited ‘Bhoomi-Pujan,’ the ground-breaking ceremony will take place in a few minutes from now, amid Covid crisis and many leaders in quarantine. The Prime Minister has left Delhi and shall arrive in Ayodhya soon.
A nondescript town on the banks of Sarayu river, Ayodhya, is all decked up, colourful, elegant and above all strikingly clean. The occasion, which in normal times could have had a footfall of a few million, would have to limit visitors to 175 only, of which are 135 saints from across the country.
Ram, the crown prince from Ayodhya, was more human than an Avatar in the epic Ramayana. He suffered like one and all, exiled for fourteen years when his wife was kidnapped. He waged war with an army of monkeys to defeat the demon king Ravana and retrieved to his kingdom. Ramayana travelled to many South-East Asian countries, where it still features in textbooks and as monuments.
BJP came to power invoking Ram and driving a chariot around the Hindi heartland. It resulted in frenzied crowds demolishing a mosque, purportedly built over the original Ram temple, the matter going to the Supreme Court. The SC trod carefully and paved the way for the building of the temple.
The opposition, Congress, in particular, misread the national fervour and tried to rubbish the temple build, under the secularism plank. I guess the leaders now feel the lost game, and try to make amends by claiming that Ram temple will forge unity in India. What a come around and what a comedown! The timing of the inauguration of the temple slated just ahead of the 2024 elections would polarise the Hindu votes across the country for a BJP come back with a thumping majority. The mistake of provoking the minorities and exploiting them as a vote bank would prove dearly to many opposition parties.
No wonder, many opposition leaders, staunchly critical of Modi, the BJP and religious bigotry, have started community bhajans and vocal prayers, singing the praise of Ram and Hanuman. They seem bizarre!
Unlike China outsourced Patel statue in Gujarat costing over Rs.3000 crores, the temple might cost just a tenth of the Patel cost. An additional thousand crores will be spent on the development of the infrastructure in Ayodhya and the surroundings of the temple. Ayodhya will be shot into prominence and with the huge inflow of tourists, like in Vaishno Devi temple in Bhavan, Katra or Venkatachalapati temple in Tirupati.
Ram embraced all communities, and in a symbolic repeat, Iqbal Ansari, who was the first litigant in the Ram Temple case in the Supreme Court is an invitee for the Bhumi Pujan, he gracefully accepting the invitation as well. Ram temple must spread the greatness of Ram, his fairness, judiciousness and simplicity, embracing all communities, regardless of their religious beliefs and faiths. Thus it will blow a hole into the bogey of minorities, or majorities divide, capitalised by the wily politicians and impeding the growth of our nation.
Jai Shri Ram!
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
