Letters to THE EDITOR

Construction of a Ram Temple

Sections of the Sangh Parivar are now putting pressure on the government to cut short the judicial process and construct a Ram temple at the site of the demolished Babri Masjid by bringing in a law to this effect. Such a step would have enormous negative repercussions for India’s polity and the government must resist the pressure. Though the VHP is at the forefront of this demand, the RSS too has shed any pretensions of glasnost and is backing it. Since grave constitutional issues are involved in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janambhoomi title suit, any law or ordinance on the matter will surely attract legal challenge on the ground as the case is already in the Supreme Court.

Recently BJP leader and Uttar Pradesh Animal Husbandry Minister S.P. Singh Baghel claimed that the Ram temple will surely be built in Ayodhya and said if the dispute on the issue is not settled in the Supreme Court, it should be sorted out through mutual discussions among the stakeholders. Referring to the country’s tradition of making statues and monuments in memory of statesmen, the Minister said it was justified that there should be a temple of Lord Ram at his birthplace in Ayodhya. “It should be built because whenever any statesmen are born, some monuments have been built in their memory. If Lord Ram was human, his statues would have been built. But as he is God, there should be a temple in his birthplace.”

Baghel clearly indicated that Ram temple will be built in Ayodhya. Besides, the RSS-VHP demand amounts to establishing, simply by bringing in a law to this effect, a temple at the site of a mosque that was demolished by criminal means, facilitated by RSS-VHP itself. To justify it by claiming that faith overrides everything else is not a principle which the Indian Constitution supports - that would not only be enormously divisive but also the operative principle of a theocracy setting India on the route to becoming a Hindu Pakistan.

Even in terms of purely cynical political calculations of winning the next Lok Sabha elections through whatever means necessary, BJP lacks numbers in Rajya Sabha to pass such a law. Given the sensitive nature of the case, neutral parties are likely to be averse to supporting the BJP on this. In fact, the move could actually backfire for BJP with expected electoral gains being negated by opposition unity. This is particularly relevant in UP where, by playing the Ram Mandir card and forcing the issue through a law or ordinance, the BJP will try to compel SP and BSP to come together and form a powerful coalition against it.

Riding roughshod over the Supreme Court and establishing a temple through brute legislative fiat would be an utterly divisive move engendering communal turmoil, which in turn would disrupt development and further set back the economy, already in a fragile state.

Satish Kumar Sarma,

Kalyanpur, Biswanath Chariali.

Bandh and Counter Bandh - A Farcical Exercise

India burns from time to time and will keep on burning so long as the provision of reservation will be there. In Assam, the matter is turning into a farcical exercise. We all know that six ethnic tribes have been agitating for their inclusion into Schedule Tribe. In the last parliamentary session, the Bill for including these six ethnic tribes was about to be passed but it could not see the light of day.

Meanwhile, another agitation against the inclusion of six ethnic tribes into ST by the existing schedule Tribes rocked Assam. The said tribes called 'Assam bandh'. We note with concern that both the groups (for and against) have taken the people for a ride. Again the six ethnic tribes seeking reservations have called 'Assam bandh' on January 18. More bandhs are in the offing. The state's ruling dispensation is a silent observer and is hell-bent on passing the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016. It is ethically not plausible on the part of a political party that had been voted to power by the people when the party deceives the people by going against their will. Many believe that the decision to give ST status to the six ethnic tribes is nothing but an eyewash to bring division against the controversial Bill among the people. Promila Rani Brahma, a Cabinet minister of the Sonowal Government stated in no uncertain term that under no circumstances the six ethnic tribes should be given tribal status.

Ashok Bordoloi,

Dibrugarh.