It is essential to note here that on January 23, a day after the inauguration of the Ram Temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya, a mob of at least 25 people had barged into the FTII campus and had angrily raked through the campus despite the presence of the campus security personnel. The mob had burned a banner that has been put up inside the campus stating ‘Remember Babri, Death of Constitution’ and had assaulted many students, including women, too. As per a report of the Arunachal Times, Mankap Nokwoham, an Arunachalee student hailing from Changlang district, who is also the president of the Film & Television Institute of India (Pune) Student Association (FTIISA), had been brutally assaulted by alleged members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarti Parishad inside the FTII campus.

An FIR had been filed by the institute against the mob. Notably, Indian Penal Code sections pertaining to unlawful assembly, rioting, causing hurt, trespassing, damage to property and criminal intimidation had been invoked by the police against unnamed 10-12 people. And now, as per a report of the Times of India, in a cross lodging of case, the police have registered a case against six students of the institute over displaying a banner and posters with alleged “objectionable” matter.

Pursuant to the filing of the FIR, on January 24 itself, a press note had been released by the FTIISA. The said press note refers to events that took place inside the campus on January 23, stating that “the campus still remains terrorized.” Referring to the FIR filed by the institute against the mob, the note pointedly states how the institute “failed to mention some grievous happenings of the day, including the charge of infringing on women’s modesty.”

The statement also specifies that the assailants in the mob had “not just burnt banners and shouted slogans in the name of Ram, they also pushed slapped, shoved, punched and attacked many students gathered there while hurling abuses”.

The press note also addresses the issue of false portrayal the said incidents on social media platforms. To clarify their stance, the press note states “Hindutva organisations have painted a false picture of the events. Students have not attacked anyone, we were only defending ourselves.” The note also highlights the social media posts that are threatening the FTII students with physical violence and harassment.

Referring to the filing of the FIR against the students, deeming it to be a “serious concern”, the press note stated that there has been a random targeting of five students out of a gathering and the five accused had been exercising their right to defend. As per a report of the Quint, the FIR filed against the students includes sections 153-B (1) (c) and 295 (a) of the IPC, both of which relates to allegation that the acts of the students potentially caused disharmony or enmity and that outrage religious feelings.

Through the note, the FTIISA has then asserted their right to freedom of speech and expression as well as their commitment to protect the secular values of our country. Condemning the said attack they faced as well as the targeting the students are being subjected to, the student association has written that “if upholding the secular values and expressing dissent against their erasure is considered objectionable and worthy of violence to these assailants, we feel strongly that everyone should be alerted of the dire straits we are in, and the kind of terror that surrounds us today.”

The complete press note can be read here:

FIR Copy can be seen here.

Related:

Mob attacks FTII students on campus

Five states report communal incidents following the inauguration of the Ram Temple in UP

Eve of Ram temple inauguration sees “clashes”, planting of saffron flag atop Church

Preamble, banners, slogans of solidarity, inter-faith rallies and protests – symbol of undying secularism on January 22

The post Five FTII Pune students booked by police for “hurting religious sentiments” over displaying ‘Remember Babri’ banner appeared first on SabrangIndia.

On the same occasion, Shri Mohan Bhagwat, the Sarsangh Chalak (chief) of RSS, which led the campaign for construction of Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in place of Babri Masjid said, “Shri Ram is the most worshipped deity of the majority society and the life of Shri Ramchandra is still accepted as an ideal of conduct by the entire society. Hence, now the conflict that has arisen as for and against over the dispute should be ended” (Singh, 2024).

Both, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shri Mohan Bhagwat, emphasized on values of compassion, unity and inclusion and bringing all disputes and controversies pertaining to the construction of the temple to an end. Lord Ram was presented as unifier of the country. There can be no two opinions about what the Prime Minister and Bhagwat spoke. India needs to be united on the values of inclusion, equality and justice.

Lord Ram is worshipped for being Maryada Purushottam who stands for righteousness, justice and truth. One who upholds dharma, who chose to sacrifice his claim to the throne in order to honour his father’s promise and accepted 14-year exile in forest? Mahatma Gandhi and Kabir’s Ram had all the attributes that human beings must have. In his war against adharma, Lord Ram took everyone along, including smallest creature – squirrel.

However, contrary to these attributes, the Sangh Parivar converted the Maryada Purushottam’s calm and serene qualities into a symbol of a belligerent fighter, ready to shoot his arrow and used this image throughout their campaign for Ram Janmabhoomi Temple vilifying Muslim community and targeting them. Lord Ram, to them is an instrument to establish hegemony of one community over other.

“Jai Shree Ram” became a slogan of a war of Hindu nationalists against Muslims forcing their targets to chant it if they wanted to escape atrocities and violence being inflicted upon them. This became a slogan of Hindu nationalist processions entering minority inhabited areas to assert their power and establish their domination with belligerent intentions. It also became an instrument to tease the political opponents of the BJP and provoke a reaction, as they did with Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal. These war cries have never appeared like religious chants. Is the Sangh Parivar now sincere about their offer to end all disputes and revert back to hold Lord Ram as symbol of righteousness, compassion, justice and truth? If the answer is in the affirmative, it would be welcome and all disputes would end. However, the track record of the BJP led government does not inspire confidence that this will actually happen.

The Centre for Study of Society and Secularism has documented instances of violence that accompanied Ram Navami processions in 2022 and 2023, and the “shaurya” yatras in Muslim inhabited areas and organized under the pretext to collect donations for the construction of the Ram temple.

The intention of those in these processions to assert their power and domination over the minority community and the areas inhabited by them was evident from their conduct, behaviour and preparations.

The partisan behaviour of the BJP ruled states in inflicting collective punishment on the minority community did not seem like the state was inspired by the Maryada Purushottam and observing its maryadas – the laws and the Constitution of India.

We revisit of some incidents documented by the CSSS teams what unfolded during Ram Navami processions in recent years. The Prime Minister and Shree Bhagwat chose to remain silent over such behaviour in the name of Ram by the Hindu nationalists and did not remind them about what Lord Ram stands for. Lord Ram, was transformed into a tool of mobilization leveraging the sentiment of Hindu pride against a constructed adversary—the Muslim community.

The processions organised by the Hindu nationalists were often equipped with various weapons, such as swords, rods, trishuls, and sticks, in violation of the conditions upon which administrative permissions for such events are granted.   The politically motivated Hindu nationalists would often deviate from the permitted route of the procession and meander into minority inhabited areas looking for trouble and shouting political, and even abusive slogans.

In Ujjain for instance, during the procession of Ram Navami, the slogan, “Baccha baccha Ram ka, chachiyon ke kaam ka” rented the air. The subtle meaning of the slogan implied sexual relation between the progeny of Ram (Hindu men) and Muslim women. In Koderma (Jharkhand), those in Ram Navmi processions are seen in a viral video dancing ecstatically and abusing Muslims using the worst anti-women expletive in chorus. These processions are accompanied by loud and even deafening DJ vans and halt outside the mosques for a very long time during their prayer time. This stands in stark contrast to the traditional processions of Ram Navami organised by the residents of specific neighbourhoods that are also traditionally welcomed by the minorities and offered snacks and drinks.

In the Ram Navami procession in Vadodara organised by Hindu right wing in 2023, the participants of the procession shouted slogans, “Hindustan mein rehna hoga to jai shri Ram kehna hoga” and “hum aayenge toh nazar niche Karni padegi”. The participants in the Shobha Yatra vandalised the Dhuldoyawad Masjid and Hazrat Kalu Shahid – Balu Shahid Dargah. They also shouted the aforesaid slogan.

The provocative and demeaning slogans during Ram Navami processions and loud DJ music, serves as a deliberate strategy to incite and provoke the Muslim community into some sort of a reaction. Given the abusive slogans, loud music in front of mosques for long period, it is not possible for the community to restrain every Muslim from reacting. The participants in the processions use even a minimal reaction from Muslims to such provocations as a pretext for launching violent attacks on the Muslim residents.

The years 2022 and 2023 witnessed a staggering 28 communal riots directly linked to Ram Navami processions. Disturbingly, the state apparatus, instead of quelling the violence, aid and abet the rioters by either being silent spectators or actively using force on the Muslim community.

Police actions in the aftermath of these riots have been widely perceived as one-sided, resulting in the disproportionate arrest of Muslims, a significant number of whom are innocent. Their homes are raided. In Vadodara, Muslim women were assaulted. The local administration demolish the homes of Muslims as witnessed in Vadodara, Himmatnagar, Khambhat, Ujjain, Indore, etc. The properties owned or occupied by Muslims are declared as “illegal” and demolished without following the due process of law, and without notices, hearings etc.

“Jai Shri Ram” once a benign greeting now has become a war cry. The invocation of “Jai Shri Ram,” culturally an innocuous salutation, has undergone a transformation into a rallying cry with ominous connotations.

This evolution is underscored by the haunting imagery of Tabrez Ansari, who was tied to a pole amidst a jubilant crowd cheering. The assembled mob, comprised of men, women, and children, demanded that the injured Tabrez chant “Jai Shri Ram.”

Despite his compliance, Tabrez succumbed to grave injuries inflicted upon him during a lynching perpetrated by the mob. In another incident, Shahrukh Halder, a madarsa teacher, was beaten up and thrown off a moving train for refusing to say “Jai Shri Ram”. There are other such incidents where this chant was used to humiliate and kill non-Hindus.

Such an instrumental use of Lord Ram by those in the Ram Navmi processions organised by Hindu nationalists and their belligerent behaviour has not come from nowhere. It is the essentially politically-motivated, Hindu nationalist ideology, as propagated by the Sangh Parivar that misrepresents and distorts history wherein the Muslim rulers are presented as oppressors of Hindus who were out to destroy the Hindu culture, demolish their temples, forcibly convert the Hindus and sexually assault Hindu women. That is why the Prime Minister once asserted that Hindus were enslaved and colonised for over a thousand years. The Prime Minister also asserted once, contrary to facts, that all terrorists are Muslims, subtly associating terrorism as an instrument rooted in Islam. The BJP leaders, including the Home Minister Shri Amit Shah in Bihar, asserted that if the party loses elections there will be celebrations in Pakistan – a country, which the Hindu nationalists are taught to treat as an enemy state. This subtly establishes that Indian Muslims are loyal to Pakistan and that country is where they belong. Muslims are often called upon to migrate to Pakistan. It is the persistent vilification of Muslims as enemies of Hindus that has misled those under the influence of Hindu nationalist ideology and made them violent towards Muslims. In order to end the conflict, a Ram temple in Ayodhya alone would not be sufficient.

What we need is that the Hindu nationalists learn truth from historical and cultural facts and respect the cultural, religious, ethnic, linguistic and social diversity of the country.

Will the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya inspire the Hindu nationalists to reconcile, accept, and adhere to truth?

Will it inspire them to overcome their ideologically constructed resentment of Muslims? Will they learn from Lord Ram his serenity, calm, adherence to truth and not be attached to power and hegemony?

All communities and peoples need to do so. We hope that the Prime Minister and Shri Bhagwat condemn instrumentalisation of Lord Ram as a symbol of hegemony and exclusion as manifested during the Ram Navmi processions in the past.

References:

Indian Express. (2024, January 22). Retrieved from Indian Express: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/pm-modi-ram-mandir-speech-highlights-9121495/#:~:text=%E2%80%9COur%20Ram%20has%20arrived%20today,centuries%2C%E2%80%9D%20said%20PM%20Modi.&text=Prime%20Minister%20Narendra%20Modi%20Monday,PM%20Modi%20said%20in%20Ayo

Singh, A. K. (2024, January 21). Times of India. Retrieved from Times of India: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/ayodhya-reconstruction-an-occasion-to-move-on-end-the-bitterness-bhagwat/articleshow/107026633.cms?fr

The post Will Pran Pratishtha of Lord Ram in Ayodhya mark the end of all conflicts? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

What happened at Mira Road?

On the night of January 21st, tensions ran high between two groups as a group which consisted of more than 50 people pelted stones and vandalised four cars and 10 motorbikes adorned with “Jai Shri Ram” flags near Hyderi Chowk. This reportedly took place after a rally of bikers went through the neighbourhood shouting religious slogans.

On January 22^nd, evening, people reportedly affiliated with Hindutva groups targeted a couple of parked auto rickshaws in the area, resorting to stone-pelting, as reported by the police. In light of these events, security measures were heightened at Mira Road station on Tuesday, and were accompanied by a police march in and around Naya Nagar. The Bajrang Dal had voiced slogans outside the railway station on Tuesday evening, only to be dispersed by law enforcement. This rally was reportedly live streamed by the participants. Maktoob Media posted a video where a group of people can be seen vandalising an auto rickshaw and beating a young man in a truck after forcing him to come out. Maktoob Media further spoke to the father of a young man who was forced to come out of the truck, Abdul Haqq Chaudhary who said that the mob was planning to burn the truck with the people inside as well which is why his son was forced to come out. All three who were in the truck, according to Chaudhury, have been grievously injured.

Following the episode of stone-pelting in Mumbai’s Mira Road, the Mira Bhayander Vasai Virar police issued a directive to administrators of groups to not let inciteful forwards, jokes, or videos related to the recent clashes be shared on social media platforms in order to maintain communal harmony. The police explicitly instructed that administrators of such groups would be held accountable and face repercussions if found violating this directive.

Similarly, Indian Express reported the Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took to the social media platform X on Monday stating his no-tolerance approach. He says he has urged the police to undertake the most stringent measures against those responsible for the violence that unfolded on January 21st. “Law and order is the highest priority and concern of the state government. There will be zero tolerance against anyone who tries to take the law into their own hands and attempts to disturb the law-and-order situation in Maharashtra.”

According to the Indian Express, subsequently, the police have arrested a total of 13 people on the following day, with nine of them being formally arrested while the remaining four have been identified as minors. The 15 people arrested face charges under Section 307, including serious offences such as attempt to murder.

However, according to police authorities as per Indian Express, approximately 13 FIRs have been filed after complaints filed by people involved in the incidents. According to the IE, four of these complaints are from the Muslim community. However, no arrests have been made in connection to these four FIRs. Following the initial incidents of violence, the Mira-Bhayander municipal corporation, under police protection, have also undertaken demolition of alleged illegal structures in the area which reports reveal belong to Muslims from which some were rented out to members of the Hindu community as well, according to a report in Scroll.

BJP MLAs’ ultimatums to the authorities

As tensions persisted in Mira Road, particularly in the Naya Nagar area, the area was reportedly fortified with police presence according to reports. Students did not attend schools and coaching centres. However, what was disturbing amidst this turmoil is the reported presence and constant urging by local BJP MLAs. For instance, BJP’s MLA Nitesh Rane attempted to enter Naya Nagar in the late evening, but was prevented from doing so by the authorities.

Sabrang India spoke to Sadiq Basha, a resident of the area and a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), “After the Naya Nagar incident on Day 1, the police have arrested 19 people. Another 40-50 people are slated to be arrested as the people are looking at CCTV cameras. The police are doing their job. However, local electoral representatives such as Geeta Jain and Nitish Rane are doing the opposite. They took out a rally yesterday to remove the barricades. They are trying to spoil the environment, despite taking an oath in the constitution to uphold communal harmony, they are making attempts to spoil it. They are urging the police to tell the (police) commissioner to remove the barricade, they want rallies to pass through the area again and want to intimidate the minorities.”

Sadiq notes how he and some citizen-activists and artists are preparing to take legal action in order to prevent further violence. “We, as citizens, are planning to take legal action in order to prevent the situation from getting worse and prevent the representatives from spoiling the environment. People are being intimidated by elected representatives. Tensions are high. However, as of now, further violence is not happening, because the police have done a commendable job.”

In a video shared by Geeta Jain’s X account, she can be seen speaking to ANI, saying why are people being asked to show their Aadhar card to cross the (Mira-Bhayandar) area. She further stated that Nitesh (Rana) has also stated that if the barricades are not removed in the next 24 hours, then they will come again and remove it themselves. Geeta Jain is an MLA from the Mira-Bhayandar constituency. She and Nitesh Rane have both been observed to have engaged in rousing communal sentiments in Maharashtra in the past year.

बस अब और नहीं चलेगा…! #जयश्रीराम #miraroad #bjp #india #BJPIndia #bjpmaharashtra #DevendraFadnavis #MiraRoad #connectgeeta #MiraRoadriot #miraroad pic.twitter.com/G5gcOhyDKB

— Geeta Bharat Jain (@MLAgeetajain) January 23, 2024

Furthermore, Nitesh Rana, a BJP MLA for the Kankavil constituency in Maharashtra further posted on X a seemingly incendiary tweet, talking about beating people and picking them ‘one by one.’

“मीरा रोड मद्ये जे काल रात्री झाल..

एक याद रखना..

चुन चुन के मारेंगे !!!

जय श्री राम “

मीरा रोड मद्ये जे काल रात्री झाल..

एक याद रखना..

चुन चुन के मारेंगे !!!

जय श्री राम

— nitesh rane (@NiteshNRane) January 22, 2024

It was noted by journalist Rana Ayyub that this tweet by Rane had several people commenting and urging for the implementation of “bulldozer action”, and as noted, after this tweet demolitions took place at the Mira Road area.

The responses to this tweet ask for bulldozer action against Muslims, some ask for 92 to be repeated. Few hours later bulldozer runs in Mira road. pic.twitter.com/EzCn85Amde

— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) January 24, 2024

Coordinated online hate

The BJP IT Cell seems to be on a roll. Social media site, X, saw Mira Road trending nationally. By looking through the posts that featured in this trend, many online users of X can be seen endorsing the violence against Muslims. Many were seen justifying it and saying that this was only a matter of time as they shared several videos of the mob vandalising private property.

One account by a man named Manoj Tiwari, who has written sports journalist in his bio, wrote the following tweet. This tweet was incidentally eerily identical with another tweet posted by another account.

“Maratha’s teaching peace to peacefuls since 6th June 1674.Now watch retaliation by Hindus against riots in #MiraRoad (मीरा रोड), Thane, Mumbai.”

Maratha’s teaching peace to peacefuls since 6th June 1674.

Now watch retaliation by Hindus against riots in #MiraRoad (मीरा रोड), Thane, Mumbai.

pic.twitter.com/NrkuqP6smm

— Manoj Tiwari (@ManojTiwariIND) January 24, 2024

Another tweet, that was just as identical as the one above, was posted by an account with a woman’s display photo that goes by the name Prarambhi. The account has about 13000 followers.

“Maratha’s teaching peace to peacefuls since 6th June 1674. Now watch retaliation by Hindus against riots in #MiraRoad (मीरा रोड), Thane, Mumbai.”

Maratha’s teaching peace to peacefuls since 6th June 1674.

Now watch retaliation by Hindus against riots in #MiraRoad (मीरा रोड), Thane, Mumbai. pic.twitter.com/4n7O1n0vfe

— Prarambhi (@HBPrar) January 24, 2024

Another account by a man named Deepak Sharma, with over 37,000 followers tweeted the following, seemingly alluding to the residents of Mira Road being “Jihadis” with “heat”, “मीरा रोड मुंबई के जिहादियों में ज़्यादा गर्मी थी.”

Furthermore, there were several posts re-sharing Geeta Jain’s video statement. Many were asking, like the one below, whether India was still a majority Hindu nation.

This is BHARAT NOT PAKISTAN

It seems they are running their our own country as ” Mini Pakistan”

Barricading has been done , in whole locality entry allowed only by Aadhar Card,

Are we still a Hindu Majority Nation ?? #Miraroad #MiraRoadriot मीरा रोड pic.twitter.com/EHqnOj66or

— NAVEEN JAGLAN (@Dr_NvnJaglan) January 23, 2024

According to Times Now, in the aftermath of the communal clashes in Naya Nagar, Mira Road, on January 23rd, Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik met with the Mira Road Commissioner and reportedly issued an ultimatum where Sarnaik called for the immediate arrest of all people accused of involvement in the recent violence. He issued a warning, stating that if the accused are not arrested within the next 48 hours, Mira Road will witness a complete shutdown on January 25. Sarnaik said that the Mira-Bhayandar area is known as “mini-India” and an incident like this has never happened before. The Times of India has reported that community leaders and local politicians, such as Haji Babu (from the Shiv Sena Shinde faction) have been trying to maintain peace in the area and prevent tensions from escalating. Sabrang India tried reaching out to authorities handling the case. However, they could not be reached despite several calls.

Related:

Five states report communal incidents following the inauguration of the Ram Temple in UP

Riddles of Ayodhya Ram Temple: Consecration of Bhagwan Ram’s idol, but which one?

Mob attacks FTII students on campus

The day Calvin stripped the Emperor: Jan 23, 2024

The post Tensions high at Mumbai’s Mira Road as local BJP MLAs give ultimatum to police appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Hindutva groups barged into FTII Pune, launching attack on students & setting ablaze banner reading “remember Babri”. Assailants, chanting “Jai Shri Ram” & derogatory slogans, targeted both male and female students. Students claim police complicity in the assault.

Watch: pic.twitter.com/MyQk294xkS

— Maktoob (@MaktoobMedia) January 23, 2024

The student body at the institute, FTII Students’ Association had screened Anand Patwardhan’s award-winning documentary of the Babri Masjid demolition called Raam ke Naam on January 22nd, 2024. They had even invited Patwardhan for the screening of the documentary at the campus. However, despite pressure and threats, students revealed, they managed to screen the documentary and hold a live questions and answers session peacefully in the campus. However, little did they know that they would be attached the very next day!

A press note released by the student body states that once the police arrived, they took no action against the mob, who started leaving, and the culprits were “free to go.” The press note also decries the narrative, they say, is spread in the media that the incident was a scuffle between the two groups. 

Sabrang India spoke to a Sayantan Chakrabarti, general secretary of the Student’s Association at from the institute, who stated that the situation continues to remain very tense in the campus. Students continue to be threatened and under fear even though the police has been deployed as of now. 

Indian film actor Madhavan was recently nominated in September 2023 as the institute’s chairman. Madhavan recently took to Instagram to make a reportedly celebratory post about the Ram Temple inauguration in Ayodhya yesterday. 

Incidents similar to this have been witnessed on several occasions in the past two days. Students in Kerala’s KR Narayanan Film Institute were also unable to screen the documentary without disruptions. A group of people gathered and protested the screening outside the premises of the institute, following which they had to screen Raam ka Naam inside the institute’s premises. The local police had to arrive and diffuse the crowd. 

Similarly, on January 21, a film screening of the same documentary was disrupted by Hindutva outfits in Hyderabad. Rather than taking action against the disruptors, the police targeted the event organisers. Although now released, the owners of Marley’s Joint Bistro, where the screening took place, and members of the organising body, Hyderabad Cinephiles, were swiftly arrested and had charges filed against them which include Sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 290 (public nuisance), 295A (outraging religious feelings), and 149 of the Indian Penal Code.

Related

Five states report communal incidents following the inauguration of the Ram Temple in UP

Eve of Ram temple inauguration sees “clashes”, planting of saffron flag atop Church

How and why the Ram Temple is just a political tool for the BJP

Rohith’s death: We are all to blame

The post Mob attacks FTII students on campus appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Protests and harmony on the streets:

Around 1 pm, a protest rally organised by members of Bandi Mukti Committee, Hawkers Sangram Committee and around 200 other organisations was organised against the “fascist rule” and “divisive politics” of the BJP-led Centre. The said rally was joined by many eminent personalities such as State Education Minister Bratya Basu, TMC MP Samirul Islam, human rights activist and journalist Teesta Setalvad, columnist and researcher Harsh Mander, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Dipankar Bhattacharyya and local activist Binayak Sen. Thousands of people from different districts participated in the said rally, highlighting issues such as unemployment and joblessness which were being ignored by the ruling party. The protestors raised several demands including the immediate implementation of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014.

Around 5 pm in the evening the day of the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple, visuals from the interfaith rally being held by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata started emerging on social media. In the first emerging videos from the rally, titled as the ‘Sanghati Yatra’, CM Mamata Banerjee could be seen walking towards Park Circus, a minority-dominated pocket in east Kolkata, with representatives from all faiths and religions walking beside and behind her. These visuals, starkly contrasting to the Hindu and PM Modi dominated pictures that were coming from the Ram Temple inauguration, served as a powerful rhetoric to the Hinduvta exclusive and anti-minority stance being promoted by the Bharatiya Janata Party. As per a report of the New Indian Express, Mamata started the march from Hazra crossing in south Kolkata after offering prayer at Kalighat temple. As per the report, CM Mamata visited a gurdwara, mosque and church, giving out a message of inter-faith and inter-religious harmony.

The video can be viewed here:

VIDEO | West Bengal CM @MamataOfficial commences her ‘Sampriti Rally’ in Kolkata. pic.twitter.com/nFat9OPMqH

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 22, 2024

CM Mamata was not the only opposition leader protesting and celebration January 22 in her own way. The day started with the Indian National Congress leader Rahul Gandhi sitting in protest in Assam, with the participants of Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, at being denied entry to visit the birthplace of iconic Vaishnav saint Srimanta Sankardeva at Batadrava in Nagaon. It is essential to highlight here that Sankardeva is an Assamese saint-scholar, social religious reformer, poet, playwright and a towering figure in the cultural and religious history of Assam from the 15th-16th century. Gandhi was stopped at Haibargaon, around 17 km away from Batadrava, which prompted him and the other party leaders to sit on a dharna. The protestors could be seen singing songs such as ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’ which promoted secularism and pluralism, reminding us of the Gandhian principles of harmony and togetherness.

Interfaith rituals performed:

A gesture truly evident of the pluralistic values of India also came forth from Koppal city of Karnataka where Hindus and Muslims were seen offering special ‘puja’ together at a local Lord Ram temple. Hate Detectors posted on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) showing pictures from the said ritual. As per the social media post, leaders from both communities gathered at the said temple in Bhagyanagar locality of Koppal city and participated in the worship with devotion. It has been further stated that Muslims stood with the Hindu leaders and took ‘aarti’ and ‘prasada’ after the worshipping with devoutness. The gesture was appreciated and hailed by the people across the state. The photos and videos in this regard have gone viral on social media.

The post can be viewed here:

Hindus and Muslims offered special ‘puja’ together at a local #ShriRamTemple in #Koppal city of #Karnataka on Monday.

The leaders from both communities gathered at #ShriRamMandir in #Bhagyanagar locality of Koppal city and participated in the worship with devotion. #Muslims… pic.twitter.com/ddCqAJL4VA

— Hate Detector (@HateDetectors) January 22, 2024

Preamble- the symbol of justice and hope on social media:

Hours before the inauguration, celebrities from the Malayalam film industry shared images of the Preamble of the Indian Constitution on their social media handles. The move was a silent reminder to the ruling BJP party of the secular, socialist, and democratic values enshrined and forms the basic structure of the Constitution of India. Amongst these Malayalam film personalities were several well-known actors such as Parvathy Thiruvothu, Rima Kallingal, Divya Prabha, Rajesh Madhavan, Kani Kusruti, directors Jeo Baby, Aashiq Abu, Kamal KM, Kunjila Mascillamani, and singer Sooraj Santhosh. Bollywood actress Sushmita Sen also shared the picture of the Preamble on her Instagram. Apart from celebrities, the Preamble became a symbol for all those that stood against the construction of the Ayodhya structure after demolishing the Babri Masjid. 

Student-led protests at colleges:

At Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia, a group of students staged a protest on the university campus against the demolition of Babri Masjid on the day of the inauguration ceremony at Ayodhya. During the protest, the students raised slogans such as “RSS down down” and “Strike for Babri”. Many videos of the protest went viral on social media and were circulated widely. In one of the videos, two students were seen holding placards with photos of demolished masjids and raising slogans, while campus security personnel tried to stop them. A protestor could also be heard shouting, “We shall never forgive, and we shall never forget this incident. We will continue our strike and boycott the class.” As reported by ANI, the Jamia officials are probing the matter. 

The video can be viewed here:

Students of Jamia Millia Islamia boycotted classes under the banner of the Fraternity Movement to commemorate the Babri Masjid demolition on day of Ram temple consecration.

During the protest, they raised slogans such as “RSS down down” and “Strike for Babri.”

Watch: pic.twitter.com/7TYkinTxYJ

— Maktoob (@MaktoobMedia) January 22, 2024

Another student led protest was organised at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTI). The students’ association of the FTI raised banners with the message ‘Remember Babri’ inside the campus premises as the inaugural ceremony was underway in Ayodhya. As per the report of Siasat, a special screening of Anand Patwardhan’s award-winning documentary ‘Ram ke Naam’ was also screened along with a photo exhibition. The said photo exhibition was in remembrance of December 6, 1992, when a mob of Hindu nationalists led by then-senior BJP leaders including the late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani and Uma Bharati to name a few, demolished the 16th-century Babri Masjid. The said demolition had resulted in country wide anti-Muslim riots, leaving at least 2000 dead.

The picture can be viewed here:

Students at Jawaharlal Nehru University read the Preamble at different places inside the campus of the University. 

The post can be viewed here:

JNU reading preamble at different places. pic.twitter.com/aLbw8krrRm

— Nitish Kumar (@nitishkjnu) January 22, 2024

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Five states report communal incidents following the inauguration of the Ram Temple in UP

Eve of Ram temple inauguration sees “clashes”, planting of saffron flag atop Church

The making of “Ram Ke Naam”: a Hinduism that is the mirror opposite of Hindutva

How and why the Ram Temple is just a political tool for the BJP  

The post Preamble, banners, slogans of solidarity, inter-faith rallies and protests – symbol of undying secularism on January 22 appeared first on SabrangIndia.

So far, 13 people have been arrested after the Ram Temple related violence that took place in Mira Road, Mumbai. According to the Indian Express, communal incidents surfaced in various parts of Maharashtra including Mira Road, Panvel, and Nagpur. These were coupled with smaller altercations scattered across different regions which involved sloganeering and poster tearing. Similarly, Sabrang India has reported on a recent incident in Gujarat’s Mehsana district where a Shobha Yatra rally turned violent on the eve of the Ayodhya consecration ceremony as stone pelting erupted. Police have reportedly stated that the loud DJ music and firecrackers led to the stone pelting. Police reportedly fired at least three rounds of tear gas shells at the incident. According to the report, the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Gandhinagar Range, Virendra Yadav has stated that, “The situation is under control as a police team was escorting the procession. We are in the process of registering an offence.”

Similarly, according to the report, the police have reported another incident occurring at Mira Road on January 22nd in the evening as well, as Maharashtra flared up as well. Instances of violence also unfolded in Naya Nagar and Bhayander. Furthermore, seeming to anticipate conflict the government had also reportedly tightened security measures for the occasion as reports state that commandos from the Anti-Terrorist Squad were also installed as a measure. The Indian Express further reported that Panvel too witnessed incidents on both the 21st and 22nd of January.

Furthermore, a video surfaced on January 22nd of a Muslim man being forced to say “Jai Sri Ram’ during a rally by Hindutva groups in Mumbai. The incident was caught on camera and shared online.

In #Maharashtra‘s #Mumbai, #Hindutva group members forcing a #Muslim man to chant #JaiShriRam at #MiraRoad! pic.twitter.com/dt2F5IvlYu

— Hate Detector (@HateDetectors) January 22, 2024

Similarly, The Observer Post reported of communally charged incidents at a Muslim cemetery in Bihar’s Khirma village in the Darbhanga district. At the village, some men came during a celebratory procession on the inauguration of the Ram temple at Pathra and set fire to a Muslim graveyard.

In Bihar, a procession celebrating the inauguration of the Ram temple at Pathra graveyard in Darbhanga set the graveyard on fire. The incident occurred during the festivities at Khirma Panchayat. pic.twitter.com/KAtAgAllNJ

— The Observer Post (@TheObserverPost) January 22, 2024

Similarly, a page called Hate Detectors on X shared videos from Delhi, in the locality of Jaitpur, which saw people raising objectionable slogans who also carried out vandalism in a Muslim locality. This further led to the police’s intervention to prevent the conflict from escalating.

In Madhya Pradesh, on the 21st of January, a group of men climbed atop a church and put saffron flags on it, according to The Quint. The men were chanting “Jai Sri Ram” as they climbed the church which is located in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh. Pastor of the church Narbu Amaliyar, spoke to The Quint narrating how approximately 25 men came quickly and suddenly after their afternoon prayers, started saying loud slogans and proceeded to unfurl the saffron flags on top of the church. Jhabua’s Superintendent of Police Agam Jain, has reportedly told The Quint that as of now no FIR has been officially lodged in connection with the incident.

Moving south, Telangana too witnessed attempts to incite communal tension. In the Nalgonda district of Telangana a gathering of 200-250 people reportedly affiliated with Hindutva groups such as VHP and Bajrang Dal came together upon an open plot which was just adjacent to a mosque. They were demanding the construction of a Hanuman Temple and were reportedly conducting rituals at the site.

Communal tension in #Telangana‘s #SangaReddy after mob with #SaffronFlag‘s gathered to dance in front of a masjid. pic.twitter.com/6FupPS1GQQ

— Hate Detector (@HateDetectors) January 22, 2024

According to the Hate Detectors on the social media site X, senior police officials swiftly reached the scene and held a meeting the following day to address the situation.

According to the Siasat News, January 22 also saw a right-wing Hindutva mob setting fire to a shop owned by a Muslim vendor as it conducted its rally from Daulatabad in Hathnoor mandal. A police complaint has been reportedly filed with regards to this incident.

Miscreants burnt shops of Muslims in Daulatabad #Sangareddy #Telangana during the rally conducted on eve of #PranPratishthaRamMandir pic.twitter.com/P1WFOAUtc4

— Mubashir.Khurram (@infomubashir) January 22, 2024

Related:

Eve of Ram temple inauguration sees “clashes”, planting of saffron flag atop Church

How and why the Ram Temple is just a political tool for the BJP

Vigilante violence against Muslims continues without rest

Assam: Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra faces attacks, Congress demand judicial investigation

The post Five states report communal incidents following the inauguration of the Ram Temple in UP appeared first on SabrangIndia.

January 22, 2024

Dear Rama,

I have little choice but to write directly to you today on the eve of the grand consecration of your temple to speak my heart.

Hopefully you will understand better than this Government led by a Mere Mortal aspiring to take your place in the hearts of those who revere you. Why He is even changing dresses like a chameleon every day in order to beat you in the dashavatara and antaryami department! It is all very confusing….is He man, superman or cameraman? Only you will know.

Infact as the Shankracharya, in an interesting interview the other day with the fellow who speaks very oddly with an Oxbridge accent said, this MM seems to be thinking of Himself as the next Vishnu Avatar! Much of what the Shankracharya said about “political” Hindus (a species evolved in Kalyuga you may not be familiar with) and Hindus of faith infact echoes what Pandit Lal Das said way back when Anand Patwardhan interviewed him for his documentary “Ram ke Naam.”

You will remember Lal Das. He was the priest of your idols within the Mosque compound when the Babri Masjid still co existed with the temple. When asked what he thought about the plans for building the temple at the spot of the Masjid he said something so important. “This is a political game played by the VHP. There was never any ban on building the temple.

Besides according to our tradition any place where idols of God are kept, is a temple. That is a Hindu custom. And even if they wanted to build a separate temple why demolish a structure where idols already exist?

Those who want it are actually more interested in creating tensions all over India inorder to cash in on the Hindu vote. They don’t care about the genocide that will occur. How many will be killed. How much destroyed.”

Prophetic words. Words that preceded not only the bloodbath that followed the destruction of both the Masjid and infact the temple that housed your idols, but his own death. He was shot dead on 16 November 1993 in the middle of the night 20 km from Ayodhya. And who murdered him and why only you will know.

You know on December 6, 1992 when the Mosque and the temple that was within it was razed to the ground I was devastated. Like so many of my generation born into the Hindu faith I raged and mourned at this Great Betrayal of what I was brought up believing. That this faith would never goad me to become a “good Hindu” but guide me to become a better human being. That the feminine greeting of Jai Siyaramji ki would never morph into the macho murderous battle cry “Jai Shri Ram.”

I protested with fellow mourners through multifaith gatherings where we remembered the best of all faiths that are in danger from their fundamentalist followers.

But strangely enough three decades later today on the eve of the inaugural of the glitzy new temple built I feel neither rage nor sorrow. I feel, in fact, rather still. Still. In the midst of the unholy noisy melodrama around it which reveals the ridiculous depths to which this country has been driven. So low that PVR cinema can advertise free popcorn with the livestreaming of the consecration of your temple! Popcorn? Seriously??

Am sure even you are laughing at the way you have been turned into an electoral mascot and salesman from a maryada purshotham.

So you will please excuse me if I do not light four lamps in front of my house as is the diktat from above.

But what I will promise to do is light four lamps within my heart.

One for Sita who exiled herself from the Ram Rajya your followers built (now that is another quarrel we need to have another time) leaving behind the memory of a strong self respecting woman willing to stand up and walk away for what she believed.

One for Gandhi who was killed for being a self proclaimed Sanatani. You will remember that he died with your name on his lips and believed that “The chief value of Hinduism lies in holding the actual belief that all life is one i.e. all life coming from one universal source, call it Allah, God or Parameshwar”

One for Ambedkar who was a fierce critic of caste ridden Hindu dogma and for who true religion was to promote a universalist ideal of humaneness and fellow feeling that he enshrined in the concept of Fraternity underlying the remarkable Constitution of this country.

And finally one for Bilkis Bano that most inspiring of women in our times who kept her faith in this country and its justice system alive despite how both failed her.

Until the Supreme Court stood firmly with her by sending those who raped her and murdered her back to jail where their inhuman crimes have driven them.

These lamps will help to not only keep out the darkness of despair within but also keep bright our belief in the power of love – the most divine and transcendental of all faiths that can conquer all fear, hate and injustice.

Am sure you will accept and bless these lamps, for as Gandhi’s favourite bhajan went: “Raghupathi raghava raja ram patita pavana seeta ram Ishwar allah tero naam sab ko sannmathi de bhagawan.”

Yours in peace and love

Madhu Bhushan

https://www.facebook.com/madhu.bhushan.18/

The post To Rama, Four Lamps i will light today within my heart appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Dear friends and fellow travelers,

With the forthcoming event in Ayodhya on January 22, the atmosphere here in Delhi, already famous for being polluted in a material sense, has thickened to a spiritually poisonous and unbreathable concentrate of Hindu chauvinism, malice and bullying. I am deeply anguished by all this as an Indian and as a Hindu. And after thinking hard about what I can do, I have decided to go on a fast starting Saturday the 20^th and ending on Tuesday the 23^rd a day after the January 22^nd production at Ayodhya.

I am doing this first and foremost as an expression of my love and sorrow to my Muslim fellow citizens of India. I cannot let this moment pass without saying as loud as I can to my Muslim brothers and sisters that I love you and that I condemn and repudiate what is being done in the name of Hinduism and nationalism in Ayodhya.

I am also doing this as an expression of my love for my Mughal heritage. This is not only about feeling protective towards someone else. It is about my culture and my ethos. I love dhrupad and khayal music. I love kathak. I love the Mughal and Sultanate buildings in my city of Delhi – I cannot imagine Delhi without the Qutub Minar or Humayun’s Tomb, or the Sabz Burj. Not to mention the Taj Mahal next door in Agra.

I revere the magnificent culture spawned by the court of Awadh under Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. I see the Delhi Sultanate as also having given something precious to India, as it was with them that the Sufis and Amir Khusroe’s father came here. In North India we owe so much of our language and culture to Hazrat Amir Khusroe. He adopted Hindavi into a language of poetry which later spawned the grand languages of Hindi and Urdu. He made innovations in music that laid the foundation of Shastriya Sangeet – the classical music of North India  – of which we are all so proud. The list is endless.

There is no part of our high classical culture in North India which does not bear the stamp of the Sultanate, the Mughals, the nawabs and the nizams. This is not to say that any of these traditions were the sole product of these rulers, or that it was Muslims that enlightened us. On the contrary, this culture is the result of the mingling of the native arts, traditions and languages with those that were brought by the Sultans and the Mughals. A mingling which only happened because of the embrace by them of the existing culture.

Can we speak of Amir Khusroe’s music without speaking of Gopal Naik, the famous Hindu court musician from whom Khusroe learnt so much? Can we speak of Hindustani Classical music or Kathak without speaking of the Dhruvapadas or the Rasas of the Natya Shastra? Can we speak of Tansen without speaking of Pandit Haridas? Can we have Kathak without the traditions of the raasleela, and the performance of the Ramayana and the Mahabharat in India from times immemorial? Can we have Dhrupad without the worship of Lord Shiva? Can we have Dhamar without Holi? Read the writings of Abul Fazl, the court biographer of Akbar. See how he sings praises of Hindu beliefs, practices, sciences and philosophies. Do you know that Akbar commissioned a Persian translation of the Mahabharata to showcase what a great culture the Hindus had? And he was such an admirer of the Mahabharata, that when the translation was read to him he scoffed and said that it was not good enough. Look up the work that Nawab Wajid Ali Shah did with kathak compositions, dance dramas and kavits (poems) – they were all inspired by the traditional celebration of Radha-Krishna by his Hindu subjects.

This is not meant to be a lecture in history so I will stop here, but the examples go on and on. And I have given them to explain that when I say that I love my Mughal heritage, I am saying that I love the composite culture that grew out of the Hindu and Muslim traditions of this land. A culture in which you cannot pick out what is Muslim and what is Hindu anymore; or what was native and what was foreign. It has been a millennium of intermingling, and of reciprocal inspiration and admiration. Influences are from everywhere. This is not an imposition of foreign things, it is how a culture develops in conversation with other languages, aesthetic traditions, faiths and philosophies. The dramatic form that is described in the Natya Shastra emerged from a culture that branched out of the encounter of the subcontinent with the Greeks. If you keep throwing things out by calling them foreign or non-Hindu, then what will we be left with? The culture that grew under the Mughal empire was not imposed, it was not developed anywhere else, it grew here, from this soil and is unique to this land.

And let me tell you that I do not consider my only heritage to be Mughal. I come from a mixed background of Tamil Brahmin and Punjabi Sikh – and I love and cherish all those parts of my heritage too. My husband has mixed Rajasthani Jat and Jath Sikh heritage with a family history in the military and I have been delighted to adopt his legacy, with all his tales of valour and chivalry as my own.

In the work that I do helping Indian families abroad whose children have been snatched by cruel foreign child services agencies, I inevitably end up learning about the culture and religion they come from, and I found that they would seep into me. From my Bengali families I was introduced to Maa Durga whom I now celebrate with as much joy as my Bengali friends. From a recent case involving a Jain family, I have been intrigued enough to start studying some Jain scriptures. And this life history is not unique to me. It is repeated in countless Indians of all ethnic and religious backgrounds all over the country for centuries.

Hindutvavadis insist that you need one religion and one culture and one language to develop a coherent identity. It is simply not true. You can equally develop a cosmopolitan and porous identity. It is not a question of what you exclude or include, but of values and conviction. And this is not some new, modern idea. India has always been a land of diversity and these question of identity, community, authenticity and social division have always been there. And we have always been faced with a choice to be open or to be closed. This is a conversation going back millennia. Emperor Ashoka in the 3^rd century BC said पियदसी राजा सर्वता इचति सवे पासंडा वसेयु, सवे ते सयामाम च भाव- सुधिम् चइचति । Meaning: It is always my wishfor persons of all faiths live on my lands. For they all essentially believe in good thinking and good conduct. पूजेतया तू एव पर-पासंडा तेन-तेन प्रकारणेना। Find numerous ways of honouring those of other beliefs. एवम् हि देवानंपियस इच्छा किंति सव – पासंडा बहु – स्रुता च असू कलाणागमा च असू । Be broad of knowledge and seek to understand others’ beliefs.Cultivate an attitude of friendliness and openness to all.

Two millenia later in the 16^th century, Emperor Akbar is saying the same thing:

“He is a man who makes Justice his guide on the path of inquiry, and takes from every belief what is consonant with reason. Perhaps in this way the lock, whose key has been lost, may be opened.”

“Notwithstanding that at all periods of time, Hindustan has never been lacking in prudent men with excellent resolutions and well-intentioned designs, there are misunderstandings and quarrels between its different religions.

“Through the apathy of princes each sect is bigoted to its own creed and dissensions have waxed high. Each one, regarding his own persuasion as alone true, has set himself to the persecution of other worshippers of God.

“Were the eyes of the mind possessed of true vision, each individual would withdraw from this indiscriminating turmoil and attend rather to his own solicitudes, than interfere in the concerns of others so that dissensions within and without can be turned to peace and the thornbrake of strife bloom into a garden of concord.

Five hundred years later Gandhiji said “The essence of true religious teaching is that one should serve and befriend all. I learnt this in my mother’s lap. You may refuse to call me a Hindu. I know no defence except to quote a line from Iqbal’s famous song: मज़हब नहींसीखता आपस में बैर रखना, meaning, religion does not teach us to bear ill-will towards one another.”

I have found no difficulty in embracing diverse ideas and practices while all the time thinking of myself as a Hindu. In my personal practice, for wedding or functions in my family I have rituals conducted in the manner of my paternal grandmother – as the homam is done among Tamils because, personally, I prefer the way Sanskrit is pronounced by the Tamil purohits and the way the puja is done. But that is because that is how I grew up seeing pujas. This does not stop me from feeling shraddha, astha and comfort in any place of worship – whether Nizamuddin Dargah or the Vatican or Jama Masjid or the Ganeshji Mandir built by my grandfather here in Delhi on Baba Kharag Singh Marg or my personal favourite temple – the magnificent Brihadeshwara temple built by Rajarajachola in Tanjore which is a few minutes’ drive from my ancestral village in Tamil Nadu.

I am not an orthodox Hindu, I do not know all the mantras or observe the fasts or dietary taboos or pray every morning or regularly go to any temple. But I don’t see the votaries of Hindutvavad as being very orthodox either. All our saffron twitter influencers, actors and news personalities live very modern lives – and are not living the traditional orthodox Hindu way, whether in marriage, food habits, clothes or lifestyle. Even the January 22 function is not following the Hindu orthodox way – the Shankaracharyas are complaining that it is not being done according to the strict traditions.

For me this is not an issue. Hinduism is not a hidebound faith. For every shastric way of conducting some prayer there is also an upay around it. This is the openness of Hinduism and its constant reminder to remain focussed on the spirit of things and not the material side, even in conducting prayers.

For me Hinduism is all the stories of our gods and goddesses which somehow define my very existence. It is like they are always present with their epic stories and great wars and loves and philosophical dialogues like an unseen but very real drama that is always going on around me and filling my inner world with colour, counsel and comfort. Everything comes alive with them, and becomes an offering to them. When I bow to my harmonium or the stage (as my Muslim Ustads have taught me to) Devi Saraswati comes before my eyes. When I was exhausted and frustrated as a young mother with my naughty toddlers, it was the tales of Yashodha driven to distraction by the mischievous Krishna that gave me comfort and understanding. Feminists will start groaning when I say this, but when I gave up work to become a full-time mother, and everyone looked at me as though I was an alien, I found a wellspring of strength and self-assurance in the feminine Hindu ideal of seva  – of devotion, sacrifice and service – in which you forget yourself and give everything – tan, man, dhan – to serving those, whom it is your duty to serve. So I am sincere when I say that I think of myself as a Hindu. This is what Hinduism is to me. And if I am not a Hindu or if this is not Hinduism then you have to say that to my face.

Again and again we are reminded by the Hindutvavadis that the Mughals invaded us. Yes, the first Mughal came here as a conqueror. But he did not take Delhi from any Hindu ruler. Whom did Babar fight in Panipat?  It was Ibrahim Lodhi. Before that he defeated Daulat Khan in Punjab. Let us be clear, the Mughals entered India with the conquest of a Muslim by a Muslim. In fact, it was the conquest by a Muslim of several Muslims. Before defeating Lodhi, Babar had conquered the Afghans in Kabul. Some historians say that there might have even been proposals of an alliance between Babur and Rana Sanga, the Rajput king, to fight Ibrahim Lodi. That alliance did not happen, but when Ibrahim Lodi was defeated, his brother joined forces with Rana Sanga in order to try and defeat Babur. So Babar’s was not by any means a simple story of a Muslim conquest of India.

I am not going to say that Babur’s victory here was not without its pathos. Conquest is terrible in its violence and destruction. No doubt each conquest is the end of something, the death of something. I can imagine that there would have been an adjustment that Hindus would have had to make, especially in the initial years, being ruled by non-Hindus. But Mughal rule in India was never particularly focussed on Islam. Though that would have already taken place under the earlier Muslim rulers who had started coming here since the 9^th century. That was the time of kings and conquests. It was the age of imperialism. And it was precisely to end imperialism, blood feuds and war that people turned to ideas of democracy, pluralism and secularism. Ideas that we in India are recklessly rejecting in the name of invasions from 1000 and 500 years ago. Is it not possible to say: can’t we just move on from all this?

The Mughals were also not enemies of the Rajputs for all the 500 hundred years that they ruled here. They entered into marriage alliance with Rajputs. Some of their senior-most generals and officials were Rajputs. Their clothes, architecture and culture took so much from the Rajputs. Get into your car and drive out of Delhi; within minutes you are in Rajput territory, with their forts, palaces and temples all around. Were they erased? Were they taken over by the Mughals? No. They were right there, a stone’s throw from the Mughal capital.

This is why the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation was such a lie when it claimed to be fighting 500 hundred years of Hindu ghulami. Mughal rule was nothing like that. It was about the ambitions of kings and conquerors; and neither Hinduism nor Islam played any other than an ancillary role in all this. Except for Aurangzeb none of the Mughals were very observant. They drank wine, consumed opium, preferred the Sufis over the Ullema, Akbar was even accused of being un-Islamic, his Din-e-Ilahi was seen as a direct challenge to the Muslim orthodoxy, his very name, Akbar, was seen as an irreverent appropriation of Allahu Akbar.

Whatever you say about the pain of Mughal invasion, it did not give birth to centuries of Hindu repression or enslavement. It gave birth to a beautiful culture that took nothing away from Hindu religion or culture.

And now we come to the vexed question of conversions and breaking of temples by invaders. From today’s point of view, both are wrong. But let us be clear, first and foremost, about the limits of the claimed historical wrong. We are not talking about hundreds of years of repression of Hinduism, or a state policy of conversion to Islam or of mass building-over of temples with mosques. While such things did occur both before, during and after the Mughals, it was not the policy of the Mughals to convert Hindus or break temples in India. In fact, they built temples, patronised native arts and many of them, like Akbar, made huge efforts in stopping religious prejudice, persecution and maintaining communal harmony here.

So, at most we are talking of a handful of mosques, built hundreds of years ago on the one hand in a context and society that does not exist today, and causing hurt, mistrust, instability and division in the fabric of our society, along the length and breadth of our country, on the other. Look at what has happened in Manipur where old antagonisms have been provoked.

There is no justification for stoking such deep and lasting social turmoil for the sake of destroying a few mosques. It never ends. You heard what the Karnartaka BJP MP said about wanting to demolish mosques in Karnataka. Why can’t we simply say that we have better things to do than to endlessly fight over mosques and build temples?

The worst thing about these temple agitations is the ugly feelings they provoke; feelings that take us as far away as it is possible to go from religion. I was about fifteen years old when the Ram Janma Bhoomi agitation started, with LK Advani’s Rath Yatra. My entire school was for it. There is no ugly statement about Muslims that is made today, that I did not hear from my fellow students in school. I will never forget the malice in their eyes; the spite dripping from their lips. I will never forget the glee with which they would wave the tapes of Sadhvi Ritambra’s speeches, which they would play in their cars on the way to school. But I never ever, before, then or after, heard them talk about Lord Ram, or any other god.

It was the same with BJP supporters when I went to college. That was when the Babri Masjid fell. The saffronites were never short of snarky comments about Muslims but I never saw them express or demonstrate any devotion to any god, or any eagerness to go to any temple. And there was nothing particularly dharmic or Indic about these people and their families either. They lived a life which was no different to any secular, liberal family save in their abuse of Muslims.

It was never about devotion to Lord Ram. It was all always only and only about Hindu chauvinism and insulting Muslims.

How can anyone celebrate a temple built on the back of such lies, violence, spite and vengefulness? How can this be squared with the teachings of Hinduism? If there was cause for revenge in building this temple then how is such a motivation of revenge and anger justified in Hinduism?

Take the Bhagavad Gita? Do those rejoicing at the building of the Ram Mandir consider the Bhagavad Gita to be a Hindu text? Well, what does the Gita say about morality in action? It says that your acts can be moral only if you perform them selflessly, in the spirit of duty, as an offering to god, not to fulfil your own desires and wishes. According to the Bhagvad Gita no act of revenge or anger or with an eye to the fruits of action is a moral act. Karmenyev aadhikarastey, maa phaleshu kadachana.

This is what the Gita says about acting in anger: क्रोधाद्भवति सम्मोहः, सम्मोहात्स्मृतिविभ्रम:| स्मृतिभ्रंशाद्बुद्धिनाशो, बुद्धिनाशात्प्रणश्यति ||    Anger plunges you into Delusion, Delusion erases Knowledge. With loss of Knowledge, is Reason lost, With Reason lost, you Fall.

The Gita starts with Arjun saying to Krishna that he does not want to fight. And Krishna’s first response is तस्माद् युध्यस्व भारत. Get up you are a warrior, you must fight or you will be reviled by the world.  This is the 18th shloka in  the 2nd chapter of the Gita. So if that is the message of the Gita then why does it continue to 18 chapters? What more was there left to say that the Gita carried on for 16 chapters more?

Does Krishna repeat his sayings about the duty of the warrior not to run from the battlefield? No. The dialogue goes on because there is so much more to the question of what is moral action; what is a Dharma Yudh. Even when we breathe we kill so many tiny beings, so how can we humans ever speak of moral action?

All the chapters that follow the initial exchange between Arjun and Krishna are a deep reflection on this question. And the answer that emerges is that you can never truly renounce action; you can never be free of karma. Simply in living and by existing you perform karma. But equally, you must always be ethical in your actions. How can you do this? How can you keep your moral purity while engaging in any action, whether eating and breathing; or killing your brothers and uncles in war? And the answer is what we call ‘nishkaama karma’. Acting without desire, without greed, without anger, without any selish interest. Does the slogan ‘Mandir vahi banega’ strike you as anything but angry and vengeful?

What does Hinduism say about how to fight wrong? अक्रोधेन जयेत् क्रोधम्, असाधुं साधुना जयेत् ।जयेत् कदर्यम् दानेन, जयेत् सत्येन चानृतम् ॥ This is from the Mahabharata. It means Defeat anger with calm, bad conduct with good; Win over meanness with generosity, and falsehood with truth. And we all know “Ahimsa Parmo Dharma” which Gandhiji was so fond of quoting.

The Manu Smriti – there is a tendency these days to mock the Manu Smriti because of its description of the caste system. But all Hindu scriptures and epics have caste. If that is a reason then everything has to go – the Gita, the Valmiki Ramayana – everything. What I say is follow the Manu Smriti, but follow all of it. See what it says about the 10 principles of Dharama: धृति: क्षमा दमोऽस्तेयं शौचमिन्द्रियनिग्रह: । धीर्विद्या सत्यमक्रोधो दशकं धर्मलक्षणम् ।।Patience, forgiveness, self-restraint, not to take that which another’s, purity, abstention, righteous action, pursuit of knowledge, truth, renouncing anger.

So for all these reasons I call what is happening in Ayodhya on January 22^nd a lie, a celebration of wickedness, a desecration of Hinduism, and an affront to our civilisational heritage. I am fasting as an act of protest and sorrow. I will take liquids and some sugar and salt to keep my health in balance.

I have some family matters that need to attend outside my home, I hope I will be able to do so. Otherwise, I will be at home, and I will log on from time to time. I will do readings from Tagore, Gandhi, Martin Luther King and other great people who have come from this land and been inspired by the people of this land, in the hope that it will give us all some margdarshan in these dark and hopeless times.

Jai Hind.

The post A Fast & Penitence: 72 hours of Love & Sorrow to fellow Muslims, pride in My Moghul heritage appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The petitioners have applied to the High Court registrar today seeking constitution of a special bench to hear the petition on Sunday, January 21. The Registrar will respond to this request by today, Sunday, January 21.

Other reports suggest that an urgent hearing of a division bencg has been convened for 10.30 am, Sunday.

The petitioners, Shivangi Agarwal, Satyajeet Salve, Vedant Agrawal, Khushi Bangia, are students pursuing law courses in Maharashtra National Law University (MNLU), Government Law College(GLC), Mumbai and NIRMA Law University, Gujarat.

They have prayed for a quashing of the notification issued by the Maharashtra government on January 19.

“Any policy regarding declaration of public holidays cannot be at the whims and fancies of the political party in power. Holiday can be declared perhaps to commemorate a patriotic personality or historic figure but not to celebrate consecration of Ram lalla to appease a particular section of the society or religious community”, the petition said.

Further the plea states that the State government notification is nothing but expending from government exchequer for religious purpose which is prohibited under the Constitution.

The petitioners further emphasized that such public holidays would lead to loss of education, financial loss and loss of governance and public work, since schools, banks and government offices would be closed.

“In the absence of legislation conferring power to declare a public holiday on the State governments and without there being guidelines which are secular in nature, such declarations to appease a majority community that too for political purposes would be a sheer abuse of power and would destroy secular fabric of India,” the petition underscored.

The petitioners have also challenged the notification of 1968 issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs that empowers States to exercise powers under the Negotiable Instruments Act to declare public holidays.

Related:

Hindutva enters Mumbai college campuses- Gaushala, Shobha Yatra in IIT B, restriction to freedom of speech at TISS

January 2024: Raking up the myth of temple demolition

The post Students of the law move Bombay High Court challenging declaration of holiday on Ram Mandir inauguration day appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Having cited the excuse of temple desecration, he exhorted the public to take revenge on the Muslim minority: “Revenge, revenge, revenge…if we do not take revenge for the 1000 years, then the Hindu community can clearly say that ours is not Hindu blood”, according to a report in The Indian Express (January 15).

Amid the build-up to the Ayodhya event, Hegde, a Member of Parliament (MP) from Uttara Kannada constituency, listed several mosques, which, according to him, were constructed over the Hindu temples. He went on to locate these mosques in areas across Bhatkal, Uttar Kannada and Mandya.

Note that Hegde’s highly inflammatory speech, aimed at polarising voters on religious grounds, used the symbols of the “subjugated” majority Hindu community at the hands of “foreign” Muslim rulers. Moreover, the invocation of the image of “Hindu blood” is purposefully used to whip up an emotion of hate among the majority community against the minority community. Worse still, during his speech, Hegde raked up the issue of the history of violence inflicted on the native Hindu population by the alien Muslim aggressors.

During the Ayodhya agitation, the justification for the demolition of the sixteenth-century Babri Masjid was based on the same trope of the restitution of the historical wrongs committed by the Muslim rulers. The Hindutva narrative claimed that the commander of Mughal ruler Babar, Mir Baqi, demolished the Ram Temple and built Babri Masjid over it.

Neither does the historical fact uphold the Hindu Right’s claim nor was it proven the Supreme Court (final judgement). Taking the wind out of Hindutva’s sail, the Court condemned the demolition of the Babri Masjid as an act of “an egregious violation of the rule of law”. It is another matter that the decision of the Supreme Court was influenced by the concern to respect the popular faith (Aastha), which hugely disappointed large sections of Indians, democratic-minded people.

While the historical facts point to dynamism during the pre-modern era, Hegde presented a stagnant picture of the one thousand years of medieval India during which only a singular narrative of “Hindu oppression”  under Muslim rulers is/was presented. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to this, “one thousand years of slavery” in his first/early speech in Parliament and indirectly demonised the medieval period. Ironically, much of the Hindu Right’s understanding of the medieval past is based on colonial historiography.

However, historical facts do not uphold Hindutva’s claims of Hindu oppression by Muslim rulers. Nor do they support the idea of the demolition of the temples in large numbers during the medieval period. Historians largely agree that the long period of the medieval period was complex. The period saw different levels of material advancements across the subcontinent. Therefore, it is also wrong to equate the medieval period with Muslims and then call it a “dark” period, when the so-called “glorious” Hindu civilisation “declined”.

Much beyond communal narratives, the medieval period was an era of the emergence of syncretic Hindu-Muslim culture when literature, music and architecture flourished, reflecting Hindu-Muslim composite styles. During the medieval period, vernacular languages developed under the influence of Persian and Sanskrit. Even the religious and reform movements, questioning the caste system, subjugation of women and the orthodoxy in society, were influenced by both Hinduism and Islam. Moreover, the ideals of equality and fraternity enshrined in Islam appealed to the plebians and their quest for equality and dignity got a new momentum.

The rulers of Delhi and Mughal Sultanates were indeed Muslims in faith, but their rules were more constrained by the ground reality. The canons of Islam as interpreted by the Ulama were largely paid lip service to by the rulers, not rigidly implemented. The BJP and the parent, Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) are not willing to accept the truth that the so-called Muslim rule could not have lasted even a day if this had not been assisted by non-Muslim elites.

On the dark side, the peasantry and workers, both Hindus and Muslims suffered under the burden of taxes in the medieval periods. Both Muslim and Hindu rulers were united in exploiting their labours. When the subalterns revolted against the unjust taxation, they were not waging a religious war but fighting for their rights.

While the Hindu Right is fond of exaggerating the political fights between Hindu and Muslim rulers, they are silent about the wars fought among Muslim rulers for political powers. Similarly, the BJP and the RSS narrative has failed to explain why the Hindu kings sought support from Muslim rulers to defeat their rival Hindu rajas and Sikh Gurus.

Given the complex nature of medieval Indian history, it is wrong to overlook its dynamic nature and complexity. Similarly, one should never try to reduce the events to mere religious conflict. Such a communal approach to history has done much damage to national integration and communal harmony. We, therefore, must counter them with historical facts and logic.

That is why the better way to look at history is to take up social and economic dimensions and even try to find the economic and social expiations of the so-called religious wars. The secular approach to history writing can only hold a secular republic together, a fact often ignored by the BJP and the RSS for their achieving their narrow political agendas.

Instead of taking a social and economic framework, Hedge and his organisations are prone to look at Indian history from a narrow and sectarian religious lance. They do it deliberately to prove the narrative of the “intolerance” practised by the Muslim rulers to justify the Muslim oppression in the present era. Such a divisive mindset influenced Hedge to give an open threat to the minority Muslims, causing a danger to the public order: “In every village of the state, there are small religious places which were violated. Until they are demolished, the Hindu community will not sit idly.”

Records show that BJP MP, Hegde is in the habit of delivering hateful speeches. He is notorious for publicly airing anti-Muslim remarks and attacking the opposition leaders in a distasteful manner. For example, he even attacked Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for appeasing minority voters. In the recent past, he has given highly communal and anti-constitutional remarks but he is yet to be held accountable. Earlier when he was Union Minister for State, he questioned the credibility of Rahul Gandhi being a Hindu as he was, according to him, the son of a “Muslim” father and a “Christian” mother.

Worse still, Hegde went on to outrightly dismiss the national movement led by Mahatma Gandhi as “drama”. Around the same time, he threatened minority Muslim men with dire consequence of chopping off their hands if they tried to touch Hindu women. Attacking the foundation of democracy, he advocated changing the Constitution.

It is a welcome move that the Karnataka Police has taken suo motu cognisance and filed a case against Hegde for giving a public speech promoting mischief and aiming at causing religious enmity between communities. Let’s hope that the police fairly investigate the case and ensure that no one is above the rule of the law.

(The author is a Delhi-based journalist. He has taught political sciences at NCWEB Centres of Delhi University.  )

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