With endorsement from PM Narendra Modi himself, the nationwide spectacle over the Ayodhya Ram Temple consecration ceremony has become an act of majoritarian Hindu assertion in a secular country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Lepakshi temple in Andhra Pradesh. (Supplied)
“The Constitution does not make a distinction between the faith and belief of one religion and another. All forms of belief, worship and prayer are equal,” the Supreme Court said in its Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi Ayodhya title dispute case verdict in 2019.
The judgement repeatedly referred to Muslims being wronged by the desecration and eventual demolition of Babri Masjid, the Constitutional mandate of equality of all faiths, and the need to remedy the wrong.
A little more than four years later, as the frenzy of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya — timed to perfection ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls — takes over the country, equality of all faiths seems to be a hollow phrase.
With the government — whose council of ministers, including the prime minister have sworn to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution, and have taken an oath to uphold Constitutional values — endorsing majoritarian religious assertion in a secular country, those unwilling to partake in the spectacle have become natural enemies.
More so for the rabid right wing that sees the consecration ceremony as a stick to beat those who disagree with its ideology.
Screenshot from MyGov Newsdesk Telegram channel.
If one thought the installation of a Sengol in the new Parliament building (that is supposed to be secular in nature) amid Hindu religious chants from saffron-clad monks by Prime Minister Narendra Modi — who holds a Constitutional post — was in violation of Constitutional values, his presence — first at the foundation laying ceremony at Ayodhya in August 2020 and now on 22 January, 2024, at the consecration ceremony of the temple — like a patron king of yore who presides over religious ceremonies — should put all doubts to rest.
It is an unabashed endorsement of a religious event by a person holding a Constitutional post.
Screenshot from MyGov Newsdesk Telegram channel.
The consecration ceremony has led to the shedding of all pretences of Constitutional morality, and that too with pride.
Take for example the Union government’s official channel on Telegram for communication and citizen engagement: MyGov Newsdesk.
Since 15 January, the channel has only been posting religious infographics, material with a countdown for the Rama temple consecration in Ayodhya.
The lone exception was on 19 January when the channel posted about “Viksit Bharat”.
If Union ministers fervently promoting the consecration ceremony was not endorsement enough, employees have been given half a day’s leave on 22 January to “participate in the festivities”.
The Babri Masjid was destroyed in full public view in Independent India. All the key accused in the case — senior leaders of India’s ruling party BJP — have been acquitted.
It is as if nobody demolished Babri Masjid. Yet, in its place, a grand — albeit yet-to-be-completed — Rama temple awaits its consecration ceremony on 22 January.
Majoritarian bullying is perhaps an inadequate term to describe the act of a majority community mob demolishing a minority community’s place of worship.
As devout Hindus prepare to hail “Ramlalla’s return” to his purported birthplace, a frenzy of sorts has taken hold of the rabid Indian right wing, for whom the 22 January event is less to do with Bhakti and Lord Rama and more to do with taunting minority Muslims — fellow citizens of this country — and showing them their place in a make-believe “Hindu rashtra”.
There has always been a big section of Indians — especially Hindus — whose stance on the disputed site at Ayodhya, unlawful demolition of the Babri masjid, and the violence that followed has been guided by Constitutional values of liberty, equality, and fraternity, and more importantly a moral sense of right and wrong.
It is these Indians/Hindus that have come in the line of fire of the rabid right wing in the run-up to Ayodhya Rama temple’s consecration ceremony.
For them, it is these Hindus who deserve to be taunted, shamed, and abused for choosing to separate faith from politics, devotion from fanaticism, belief from electoral posturing.
After all, how dare a practising Hindu refuse to join the all-important event on 22 January and instead recall that it wasn’t just a structure that was demolished in 1992 but the foundation of fraternity among communities in India.
A religious event of a Hindu temple on a site whose history is soaked in violence and blood has been turned into a nationwide display of majoritarian religious assertion in a country deemed secular by its Constitution.
From schools looking to live-stream the consecration ceremony to Resident Welfare Associations compelling residents to participate in special prayers, from legacy media houses tying up with multiplexes to screen the ceremony with popcorn to television channels moving on from special shows on Ayodhya to running special coverage buses to the temple, from Hindutva outfits going door to door to ask people to hold special poojas to private airline crew dressing up as Hindu deities, from private firms declaring holiday to staff to the Union government asking its employees to take half a day’s leave, even AIIMS Delhi closing its OPD services: The consecration ceremony has turned into a nationwide display of collective majoritarian assertion.
All of this, while minorities whose place of worship was demolished are compelled to lay low and be mute spectators as media, fellow citizens, and politicians pretend they don’t exist.
And if you refuse to be part of this frenzy or call it out as a violation of Constitutional values, you are to be condemned — a traitor, anti-Hindu, and an impediment in the process of majoritarian bullying.
It isn’t by chance but by choice that the media and people don’t want to recall that kar sevaks went on a rampage in Ayodhya, attacking Muslim homes after demolishing the Babri Masjid.
At least 18 Muslims were murdered. At least 23 local mosques were destroyed, and shops owned by Muslims were set ablaze. As riots broke out across the country, over a thousand Indians — Hindus and Muslims — were killed.
When school-going Muslim girls are banned from classes for wearing hijab over their uniforms but schools are ready to encourage live-streaming of the consecration ceremony at Ayodhya, it is a glaring example of majoritarianism.
If you insist on that being a norm, it is majoritarian bullying. Dare if you call it out and an entire ecosystem of the rabid right wing is ready to shame you for being a bad Hindu.
There is no space for such a Hindu — one who refuses to be part of this “spectacle”, as RSS leader Ram Madhav describes the consecration ceremony in his column.
The disappointment of the rabid right wing over scores of Hindus refusing to cheer the consecration ceremony oozes from their vocabulary.
The often nameless and faceless trolls to the occasional “influencer” handles followed by Union ministers to the prime minister are unified in their approach to Hindus refusing to join the spectacle.
From the basic “go to Pakistan”, “blot on Hinduism”, and “traitor”, to the more ideological “sickular” (a portmanteau of “sick” and “secular”), “libtard” (a portmanteau of “liberal” and “retard”, as if being a liberal is a sin), “urban Naxals”, and the targeted “Hindu-hater”, “Muslim-lover”, “rice-bag convert” and the more abusive words that I refuse to platform, the frustration over scores of Hindus not taking the bait is palpable.
This ecosystem hasn’t spared religious gurus who have criticised the consecration ceremony. What chance does a pragmatic Hindu have?
So what if none of the four Shankaracharyas are attending the ceremony while two of them have explicitly deemed it a violation of Shastras? Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as Hindu number 1, will lead the ceremony.
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