Ayodha Verdict And An Average Indian

Bijaya Ghosh

Teaching

I don’t know much about the issue. In fact, I don’t even know the course of events that had culminated in Ayodha imbroglio. I came to know of it, when Advaniji had started his famous Ratha-yatra. Then I learnt that a temple was demolished and a mosque was erected in its place.

What was my reaction?

Plain, though the information was not of any immediate significance to my existence, being a Hindu , I felt bad. May be my feelings of sorrow was slightly reinforced by the fact that my ancestors were made to leave Pakistan on religious ground.

But I didn’t lose sleep over it. Observing the course of Indian politics, I knew, “whoever wins the case , sangha or the wakf board will display it as a trophy but it won’t solve any hardcore problem. So initially I wanted the status quo to continue.

But then it turned into a bleeding sore. Its soft foreskin was scratched every time an election approached. An operation was needed to settle it for once and all. The judges did just that. I was sort of relieved to see the judgment.

Some of my friends have commented that theirs’ is a political decision. Well, one needn’t have special caliber to understand that temple came before the mosque. A man who came to India in 16^th century couldn’t have build it before his arrival. But living in twenty –first century, I also know, the hallmark of faith that we are so proud of, is a chance factor. I respect a set of symbols because I have grown up with it. As people I love had bowed before them, I bow to them too. Centuries have passed since the mosque was built and emotions of people who consider it sacred is also involved. Hurting that emotion would have created opportunistic political germs of Maya-Mulayam brand. By divinding the land , Judges have tried to avoid that. Now I hope the sanity prevails.