Ayodhya's historic Ram temple consecration, ending a 500-year dispute, signifies India's communal harmony and economic potential.
From
Dispute to Harmony - Resurgence of Ayodhya
By Prime
Point Srinivasan, Managing Editor
(Ayodhya's
historic Ram temple consecration, ending a 500-year dispute, signifies India's communal
harmony and economic potential.)
This Cover Story was published in the Jan 2024 edition of PreSense
On
January 22, 2024, the world witnessed the grand consecration ceremony and 'Pran
Prathista' rituals of the Lord Sri Ram temple in Ayodhya, broadcasted through
various television and digital channels. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was
observing an 11-day Vritha, was present and offered the first prayers. The
entire country commemorated this 'historic' event. The Ayodhya dispute, which
had lasted nearly 500 years, ended on a happy note. Soon, Muslims will also
have a grand mosque in Ayodhya, transforming this town into a symbol of
communal harmony.
Brief History
Ayodhya
is considered one of the six holy places in India for Hindus and is believed to
be the birthplace of Lord Ram. Ayodhya is mentioned in the Valmiki Ramayana and
various other Indian literatures of all languages, including Kamba Ramayanam.
Lord Ram is an invisible spiritual force that resonates within the minds of
Hindus worldwide, similar to how Christians and Muslims each hold their
spiritual beliefs in their hearts. It is reported that Babar, the first Emperor
of the Mughal regime, visited Ayodhya in 1528 and constructed a mosque, demolishing
the Ram temple that existed there. This temple is believed to be the
birthplace, or Janmastan, of Lord Ram by Hindus over centuries. This triggered
the Hindus in that locality to restore the temple. It is reported that 76 wars
took place between 1528 and 1850 when the British started ruling the country.
It is also reported that during these wars, thousands of people died on both
sides. Due to the continued struggle to recapture the Janmabhoomi temple, the
mosque was not completed as per Islamic tradition. At the time when Babar
demolished the temple to construct the mosque, one Pandit Shyamananda Maharaj
was believed to be in charge of the temple, and he removed the Ram Lalla idol from
the temple and kept it in a safer place. During this period, Namaz was not held
regularly in the mosque. On the other hand, during Akbar’s period, Hindus were
allowed to use a portion of the area for their Bhajan.
Struggle during the British Period
In
1858, one year after the First War of Independence, Mahant Baba Ram Charan Das,
a highly respected Hindu Sadhu, and Maulvi Amir Ali, another highly respected
Muslim scholar, discussed and decided to end the war between Muslims and Hindus
and bring communal harmony. They signed an agreement that since the mosque was
not regularly used by the Muslims, both communities decided to end their fight
and permit Hindus to use this site for their worship. In all the ancient
records and the revenue records of the British period, this site was mentioned
as 'Janmastan'. Later it was known as 'Janmastan – Babi Masjid'. Since Ram
Janamastan is a sacred place for Hindus, in 1858 both communities came forward
to amicably settle the issue.
Unfortunately,
the British Government was not interested in allowing them to settle the issue
and wanted the 'divide and rule' policy by making both communities fight
against each other. The British Government arrested Mahant Ram Charan Das and
Maulvi Amir Ali under false pretexts and hanged them on a tamarind tree. The
tree became a symbol of communal harmony, and both communities made this tree a
monument and wanted to erect statues for their revered leaders. The British
Government removed the tree. Even some of the civil suits filed in the Faizabad
court at that time were not taken up.
Post-Independence Era
Shah Bano
In 1949, suddenly a Ram Lalla idol was placed inside the mosque. This created a significant law and order problem in the city between Hindus and Muslims. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru advised Chief Minister GB Pant to remove the idol from the place. However, District Magistrate KK Nair refused to obey the orders. KK Nair was suspended for his refusal to obey orders. Despite this, the idol remained in the mosque, and the site became a point of contention between Hindus and Muslims. The government declared the area as disputed and locked the gates, allowing neither Hindus nor Muslims to enter. Only the priests were allowed to perform rituals.
Turning Points
In
1985, a Constitution bench of five judges ruled in the 'Shah Bano' case that
Muslim women were entitled to maintenance from their husbands after divorce under
Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Although the Rajiv Gandhi
Government initially welcomed the judgment in Parliament, it later diluted the
judgment by limiting its maintenance through an Act under pressure from various
Muslim leaders. This action was criticized as yielding to fundamentalists by
amending the CrPC, a secular law, to favour religion, while the Constitution
was in favour of the Uniform Civil Code.
Umesh Chandra Pandey
Originally, the Ayodhya Ram Mandir movement was locally managed and confined to that district. However, after the Shah Bano case, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a Hindu organization, took up this issue. In January 1986, Umesh Chandra Pandey, a lawyer and journalist, filed a plea before the District Magistrate to unlock the Janmasthan – Babri Masjid site for worship. The site had been under lock since 1949. Under pressure from Hindu leaders, as he had already yielded to Muslim leaders, Rajiv Gandhi unlocked the site. The Janmastan site was unlocked and opened to the public on February 1, 1986, through a Court order.
Meanwhile,
the VHP launched a nationwide campaign in favour of building a large Ram temple
on the same site. "Vaheem Banayenge" was the main slogan.
In 1987, a Ramayana serial was telecast every Sunday morning on Doordarshan. To date, that serial holds a record for the largest viewership. Every week, 650 million people used to watch that serial. At 9 am every Sunday, the whole country would come to a standstill, like our lockdown days. In many places, when Rama's character appeared on the screen, people used to perform ‘Mangala Aarthi’ and offer fruits and flowers. Readers can imagine the frenzy and check with the elders in the family on how that serial had an impact on the whole country.
The
Ramayana serial also helped the VHP to create awareness about the Ram temple.
Meanwhile, many suits were filed in the courts for restoring the site.
Rajiv Gandhi permits Shilanya
1989 shilanya at Ayodhya
The VHP wanted to conduct a 'Shilanya' (the foundation ceremony) for the new Rama Temple. The Rajiv Gandhi Government permitted the Shilanya in 1989 to be performed in the adjoining site of the disputed area. Rajiv Gandhi deputed Buta Singh, then Home Minister, to participate in the Shilanya. Rajiv Gandhi started his Parliament election campaign from Ayodhya in 1989, promising 'Ram Rajya'. Seeing the influence of Ram among the electorate, all the political parties wanted to take advantage. The BJP passed a resolution in its National Executive Meeting to involve itself in the Ram Janmabhoomi dispute.
During
the 1989 elections, Rajiv Gandhi started appeasing both minorities and Hindus
simultaneously without clarity. The Congress, which had more than 400 MPs in
the 8th Lok Sabha, came down to 197 seats in the 1989 elections. The BJP
improved its tally from 2 seats in the 8th Lok Sabha to 85 seats in the 9th Lok
Sabha. The Ram temple issue was also one of the major vote catchers for the
BJP.
Advani’s Rath Yatra and Demolition of Babri Mosque
In 1989, VP Singh formed the Government with the support of the BJP and the left parties. In 1991, then BJP President LK Advani started his Rath Yatra from the Somnath temple to Ayodhya to create awareness about the Ram temple at the disputed site. The Rath Yatra was stopped by Lalu Prasad Yadav, the then Chief Minister of Bihar, when it entered the State, and Advani was arrested. Narendra Modi, the present Prime Minister, was the coordinator of that Yatra. Earlier, the VP Singh Government introduced Mandal Commission reservations for backward classes. A section of the people opposed this decision, which led to clashes. Those days were turbulent days with Mandal and Masjid clashes. Advani’s arrest provoked more Hindus to enter Ayodhya in large numbers. Around 2 lakh people were reported to have entered Ayodhya. Advani’s arrest led to the withdrawal of support by the BJP to the VP Singh Government.
The Legal Battle
The
legal battle for the site began in earnest in 1950 when Gopal Singh Visharad
filed a suit in the Faizabad court seeking permission for Hindus to offer
prayers at the site. Over the years, several other suits were filed by
different parties, both Hindu and Muslim, staking claim over the site. The
legal battle continued for decades, with the Allahabad High Court finally
pronouncing its verdict in 2010. The court ruled that the site should be
divided into three parts, with one-third going to the Sunni Waqf Board,
one-third to the Nirmohi Akhara, and one-third to the party representing 'Ram
Lalla'
Supreme Court Verdict
None
of the parties accepted the verdict, and all appealed to the Supreme Court of
India. The Constitution bench, consisting of five judges chaired by Chief
Justice Ranjan Gogoi, including a Muslim judge, heard the case in detail. In
2019, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the mosque was built after
destroying a Hindu temple, relying on the ASI survey and other evidence
presented by the Hindu group. The Court also observed that the Muslim side did
not prove that regular Namaz was held in the Babri Mosque. However, they
condemned the demolition of the Masjid by the Hindu group. Finally, the Court
ordered that the disputed site be handed over to Ram Lalla, the deity. They
instructed the Indian Government to create a Public Trust and hand over the
site to them for the construction of the Ram temple. Simultaneously, they also
ordered the Government to allot 5 acres to Muslim groups for the construction
of a Mosque.
The
Indian Government created a Trust and handed over the site. They also allotted
5 acres to the Sunni Waqf Board.
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone in August 2020, and the Pran
Prathishta was conducted on January 22, 2024, in the presence of the Prime
Minister.
It
is also reported that a grand mosque would be constructed shortly and
inaugurated.
Political and Economic Implications
Before
the 1980s, the Ram Temple movement was confined only to Ayodhya and the neighbouring
districts. After the VHP and BJP took over this issue in the 1980s, it became a
national movement. Ram is an invisible spiritual force behind the entire
country. In North India, people used to greet ‘Ram Ram’, instead of ‘Good
morning’. In the name of ‘secularism’, many political parties started
ridiculing the movement and rejected the ASI findings. At one stage, during Dr
Manmohan Singh's regime, the Government submitted an affidavit to the Supreme
Court saying that ‘Ram was an imaginary character’, against the strong belief
of Hindus. In the process, they ended up displeasing the majority of the
country and embarrassed even the minorities. The Supreme Court based its
verdict relying on the evidence produced by ASI and on the ‘faith’ that the
people had that the site was the Janmastan of Lord Ram. The stand of the
Congress to appease Muslims and Hindus alternatively did not go well with the
sentiments of the people. They got reduced from 400 plus seats to less than 50
in Lok Sabha. Even now, during Pran Prathishta, the Congress boycotted the
consecration ceremony of Ram Mandir, accusing the BJP was politicizing the Ram
temple. Rajiv Gandhi first started his
campaign from Ayodhya in 1989 promising ‘Ram Rajya’. In a way, all the parties
were politicizing this issue either in favour or against the Ram temple to suit
their convenience. Many of the Congress
leaders did not like this boycott decision, as they would be facing the public
for elections soon. The Ram Mandir issue was also one of the main factors for
the BJP's growth from 2 seats in the 8th Lok Sabha to 303 seats in the 17th Lok
Sabha.
Various
economic reports indicate that Ayodhya would attract nearly 10 crore people
every year as tourists. When the Mosque gets inaugurated, the numbers will
grow. According to K T Jagannathan, a Senior Economics Journalist, this would
boost the economy of the district and UP very well, benefiting all the
communities. According to Professor K
Prabhakar, Former Vice Chancellor and senior economics professor, the temple
economy in India is more than 3 lakh crores in the GDP. Ayodhya is likely to
generate immediately more than 25,000 employment opportunities in different
segments. He also added that Ayodhya and UP would attract more than 300 billion
dollars in investment.
Lessons to be Learnt
The
British regime believed in a ‘divide and rule’ policy to stabilize their rule.
Unfortunately, even after Independence, many of the political parties adopt the
same ‘divide and rule’ policy in the name of protecting secularism and
disrespecting the invisible sentiments of the people across the nation. The
Indian Constitution ensures that all citizens are treated equally. Instead of
triggering a ‘divide’ through false narratives, the political parties in India
should focus on unity and communal harmony with the economic development
agenda. Ridiculing and hurting the sentiments of the popular faith of the
people will be always counterproductive. It is to be remembered that the people
who opposed the Ram temple, created more awareness among the silent majority,
than the people who supported it. They
should keep in mind that our traditional mantra
"sarve janaha
sukino bhavanthu" ("May all beings be happy") is always
the tagline.
Conclusion
The
Ayodhya dispute, which had been a source of contention for centuries, finally
found its resolution. The peaceful resolution of the dispute and the subsequent
construction of the Ram temple and the proposed mosque, stand as a testament to
India's secular fabric and the spirit of mutual respect and harmony that
characterizes its diverse society. As we move forward, it is hoped that Ayodhya
will continue to symbolize unity in diversity, serving as a beacon of communal
harmony for the rest of the country.
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