Give temple disputes a rest
Alok Tiwari
The opening of Ram Temple on the site of
disputed Babri Masjid in Ayodhya should logically have provided an end to
temple disputes within the country. That dispute was running for decades and
had roiled the society like few others. It climaxed with demolition of masjid
on December 6, 1992. It should finally have seen its denouement with the
construction of Ram temple at the end of a tortuous legal process. In fact, if
there is an unfinished work remaining as part of mandate of that process, it is
bringing to book those responsible for the 1992 demolition that the SC had
clearly called an illegal act. If that seems unlikely to happen, at least under
the present government, what is disturbing is relentless effort being made to
raise other disputes of similar nature.
The release of report by Archaeological
Survey of India indicating presence of temple in place at Gyanvapi mosque in
Varanasi and at Shahi Eidgah in Mathura, two of the places that Temple
protagonists have always said they coveted, appear to ignite fresh troubles.
Far from providing a closure and beginning an era of harmony, these reports
coming as part of cases started in lower courts and in response to RTI query, are
set to fuel the fire of communal disputes.
The shockwaves caused by razing of Babri
masjid in 1992 were enough to alert the then lawmakers that these would not be
the end of politics of religious mobilization. That resulted in enactment of
Places of Worship Act that bars changing the nature of any place of worship
from what existed on Aug 15, 1947. It effectively mandated that Ramjanmabhoomi
dispute would be an exception and that too was to be judicially resolved. It
effectively bars taking up of any case or demand for a change in nature of a place
of worship for any reason included historical vandalism. The SC has ruled that Act
to be constitutional.
Once that law was enacted, the cases
seeking the same outcome through various means should have automatically
ceased. However, cases have continued on various pretexts and courts have
allowed ASI to “study” whether temples existed prior to construction of mosques
at Kashi and Mathura. This should have been a moot question anyway. The history
is well known. At many places it is obvious new rulers destroyed the places of
worship of local people. This was how power was projected in that era.
Obviously, it was a wrong thing to do. That is why we left those practices
behind once our thinking and civilization evolved.
Trying to change that now clearly amounts
to digging historical graves and would cause just as much pain today as those
acts would have done then. It is disingenuous to assert that doing this is to
correct historical wrongs. Wrongs cannot be corrected in this manner after
centuries. Had the victims risen up in arms against temple demolition and
snatched back the mosques then itself, it would have been justice. If they had
acted against perpetrators of the wrong, it would have been justified
retaliation. But to do it now, hundreds of years later, when original
perpetrators as well as victims are long gone is simply vengeance, not justice.
And just how far can we go back to correct
historical wrongs? There is evidence of some Hindu sects destroying Buddhist
shrines centuries ago. Will those be corrected too? What about shrines of totem
gods that existed in many native communities before overwhelming power and influence
of organized religions destroyed them. There are records of the very kings that
destroyed temples also giving land leases for other temples and helping rebuild
some of them. Will we correct those too? Once we adopted rule of law in 1947
for modern India, we firmly put that era behind. We bring it back at our peril.
The legal exercises being played out in
lower courts and by local administrations appear more dubious because they are
clearly part of a larger majoritarian politics. It will not be long before they
result in demand for repeal of Places of Worship Act. Given the brute majority
of the political forces behind it, it is possible that it may happen. Once that
happens, be assured the demands will not stop at Kashi and Mathura. These
disputes are setting the stage for burial of fundamental secular character of
our polity that has always been a thorn in the side of Hindutva forces. Right now,
they are killing it with a thousand cuts, once it is weakened enough it would
be given a fatal blow. It points to a scary future for the country. Eventually,
it would elicit a reaction too and it will not be pretty.
Saying that previous governments once
indulged in minority appeasement is a weak justification for what is happening
now. Two wrongs obviously do not make a right. If the present government really
wanted to set wrongs of previous governments right, it should have shown how a
truly secular state is run. If appeasement of one community was a crime, so is
appeasement of the other. Draping it in terms of some kind of civilizational
renaissance is plain dishonest. Renaissance does not happen with razing one
shrine and replacing it with another. Instead, it comes when state ensures a
free society where art, culture, and scientific innovations can flourish. What
is happening now is in fact opposite of renaissance.
While not much hope is left from judiciary
too these days, it could redeem itself by putting an end to the obvious efforts
to chip away basic character of Indian nation as imagined by the founding
fathers. It should bar all courts all over the country from taking up any case
that aims at changing nature of a place of worship. Will the apex court be up to
the task?
This column appeared in Lokmat Times on Feb 7, 2024
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