By M D Nalapat
As suggested by Shia petitioners, a mosque should be erected in a nearby location.
Even
a cursory visit to a country such as Saudi Arabia will show the
separation between Shia mosques and those catering to Sunnis. The Babri
Masjid was built as a Shia house of prayer, although in a legal
manoeuvre, it got reclassified as Sunni just before 1947, through the
decision of a judge who subscribed to the same school of theology within
the great faith he belonged to, as that which his verdict favoured. To accuse
him of bias may be unjust, but from then onwards, Shia organisations
were sought to be excluded from activities connected to the mosque. Now
they have re-entered the legal arena,
seeking to re-establish their historically valid claim to being the
actual trustees of the mosque, rather than the (Sunni) Wakf Board, which
was given control by the Faizabad judge. A comprehensive review of the
historical evidence would almost certainly result in the Shia community
being given back legal authority over what remains of a structure that
was destroyed in 1992 by kar sevaks. This was as a consequence of a lack of effective protection by the Narasimha Rao government, which went by assurances
related to the safety of the structure that were quickly shown to be
incorrect. What is not in dispute is the fact that hundreds of millions
of individuals believe the Babri Masjid to have been erected on the very
site where Lord Ram was born. Similarly, a structure was constructed
atop what is almost universally regarded within the Hindu community as
being the birthplace in Mathura of Lord Krishna, and (in Varanasi) a
mosque was built on what is believed to be the site of an ancient Shiva
temple. Those within India and outside with an interest in ensuring
toxicity within the Hindu-Muslim relationship would like these three
locations to remain as they are, an oozing wound on the psyche of a
billion people.
This columnist is clear that the battles and events described in the Mahabharata
actually took place, and it is evidence of the persistence of colonial
mindsets in a country that won its freedom seven decades ago that
historians steeped in the external prejudices that have suffused
Nehruvian thought, continue to regard the Indian epics as “myths”. Were
Italians to regard Julius Caesar as a fantasy, or Greeks as a historical
untruth the life and conquests of Alexander, they would be called
insane. Those who acknowledge the truth of the epics of ancient India
are not termed mad, merely “fanatics” who seek to invent history. Or in
other words, be accused of precisely what colonial-era historians and
their successors in post-1947 India did. Which was to create an ersatz
history that subliminally ensured that any sense of pride in being sons
and daughters of the subcontinent would get stamped out.
Unfortunately, more than a few champions
of the Correct History (as distinct from Colonial History) cause are
aiming at the wrong target by demanding the extinction, rather than
spread of a useful weapon of global empowerment, which is the English
language. Such faulty targeting is an error common in the history of
India, and which has been responsible for the fact that even in 2017,
this country is dependent on foreign sources for almost all its core
defence and technological needs. As has been pointed out by worried
scientists, even laboratory equipments need to be imported, as very few
items are indigenously produced. Were sanctions on such supplies to get
imposed, much of R&D would halt. Not, of course, that there is a
surfeit of genuinely swadeshi R&D anyway, most of it being re-heated
versions of concepts and models from countries that are less dismissive
of their own talent than India. The widening trajectories of the
indigenous capabilities of India and China show the extent to which the
retention of the colonial model of bureaucracy, housing, healthcare and
education has damaged the future of India. In the chemistry of a people,
history is at the heart, and acknowledging that Lord Ram and Lord
Krishna are as real in history as Alexander and Julius Caesar, is
essential to historical truth. Such a factual history, rather than
continuing with colonial-era myth-making, is a necessary step towards a
rejuvenated Indian nation. In this context, were the birthplaces of Lord
Ram at Faizabad, that of Lord Krishna at Mathura, and the spiritual
centre of gravity that is the former structure in Varanasi consecrated
to Lord Shiva, to be gifted to their Hindu brothers and sisters by the
Muslim community, such a princely gesture would douse the flames of
tension rising between the practitioners of these two noble faiths. Once
this transfer takes place, any attempt by individuals to change the
status of other houses of worship in this country on historical grounds
should be met with police bullets. No further change on the lines of the
three already mentioned should be asked for, or granted. Those
irresponsible enough to do so should be shunned.
There are fanatics in all communities,
even within those that are known for their modernity and rationality,
such as the Jains, Sikhs and Parsis. A tiny substratum of believers in
the Two Nation theory popularised under the British should no longer be allowed
to block the path towards the comprehensive communal harmony in India
that will dawn with the building of temples at the three sites
mentioned. Also (in Faizabad and Mathura), historical complexes should
be constructed in a traditional architectural way that tells the life
stories of Lord Ram and Lord Krishna, and to which every individual on
the planet should be welcomed. Epic heroes are universal, whether they
be from India, Europe or elsewhere. They each belong to all humankind.
Additionally, as suggested by the Shia petitioners in the Babri Masjid
case, a mosque should be erected in nearby locations in the three
centres, which would be visible symbols of the mercy, compassion and
peace that so fills the Holy Quran. The gesture of agreeing to the
relocation of the three places of worship in order to ensure lasting
communal harmony would be the finest 70th birthday gift to the entire
nation. It would show the world that Muslims in India are second to none
in their respect and tolerance for other faiths.
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