Author: M.V. Kamath
Publication: Organiser
Date: March 31, 2002
Introduction: The so-called secularists
are warned. They are driving a frustrated people to desperation. And when
that comes to pass, logic and good sense are stood on their head and the
entire nation will suffer. And then let not the karsevaks be blamed for
what is not their fault. There has to be a limit to secular pig-headedness
May I, with folded hands, make a
sincere request to my fellow Hindus to give a respite to the use of the
word 'secular' for the next five years? The word stinks to high heavens.
It smells of hypocrisy, cowardice, an attitude of holier-than-thou and
a singular ignorance of history unparalleled in the annals of our sorry
times. There were no secularists around when Ghazni Mohammed invaded India
thirteen times, smashed the lingam in the Somnath Temple and took the pieces
to be scattered in front of a masjid in his home town for his Islamic kinsmen
merrily to trample over. Nor were there any secularists living when, during
the long Islamic reign over many parts of India, over three thousand temples
were demolished without so much a by-your-leave. It was considered part
of medieval behaviour and so to be taken in one's stride. If not Babar
it was his general who destroyed a temple in Ayodhya and despite the hysterical
denials of our demented historians, a temple did exist where the Babri
structure once stood and there are enough records-and architectural evidence-to
prove the fact. Only the determinedly blind people will argue otherwise
and refuse to accept the testimony of many Muslim writers themselves like
Mirza Jan (1856), Mohammad Asghar (1858), Mirza Rajah Ali Beg Sarur (1787-1867)
and Sheikh Mohammad Azmat Ali (1869) who have had no reason to tell a lie.
But even if, for the sake of argument, there was no temple in Ayodhya,
it ill behoved anybody, let alone a murderous marauder like. Babar to build
a masjid in what is considered a Hindu holy city any more than a theoretical
Hindu invader of Saudi Arabia would have in building a temple in Mecca
close to or on the site of the Kaaba. Sri Ramachandra is as much meaningful
to Hindus as Allah is to Muslims, a point that needs to be stressed. The
Babri structure was specifically raised in Ayodhya to tell the Hindus who
the rulers were. The VHP does not have to be apologetic to anyone, least
of all to the secularists for wishing to raise a temple to Sri Ramachandra
at a site they believe he was born. But the real issue is not Ayodhya as
much as it is the secularists' dogged determination not to face up to history.
The attitude of the average secularist is either to bury his head, ostrich-like,
in the sands of time in the face of embarrassing facts or to say that the
Hindus deserved what they got. By their cowardly behaviour the secularists
have both directly or indirectly encouraged the hard-liners among Muslims
to refuse to consider any sensible compromise with the VHP, and if anybody
is to be blamed for all the disturbances of the past decade it has to be
the secularist with his contempt for Hinduism. Let this be stated: what
happened in Ahmedabad is no different from what happened in Delhi when
Indira Gandhi was assassinated or what happened in Punjab following Partition.
The Gujaratis are as law abiding a people as anyone else and don't deserve
to be maligned. Does anyone remember Rajiv Gandhi's remarks about the wholesale
killings of Sikhs following Indira Gandhi's death? Did Congress pull him
up for his thoughtless comment? The Ahmedabad rioting was not pre-planned
unlike the Godhra killings by Muslim fanatics or the killings of innocent
Kashmiris by ISI supported jihadists. Granting that any violence is not
to be condoned, one has to assess the Ahmedabad rioting in its proper context.
The Ayodhya issue is not for the
courts to decide but for the Muslim community to concede to the VHP what
rightfully belongs to the Hindus-graciously. And who will believe this
community when it says it will abide by a Court verdict? What happened
in the matter of the Shah Banoo case? For the Muslim community it is a
win-win situation. If it wins the case it can have the last laugh. If it
loses the case it can always say that the BJP Government has bought the
judge or judges. One suspects that this is why the BJP itself is dragging
its feet; it could also be a reason why no judge wants to get involved
in hearing the case. Such is the power of blackmail that the secularists,
in their blind hatred of the BJP and the VHP, wield. In the circumstances
why should anyone blame the VHP? Hasn't it shown exemplary patience for
ten long years? Considering that the issue has been discussed threadbare,
it shouldn't take any judge more than ten whole minutes to deliver judgement.
But Who would want to be damned as communal and fascist when it safer to
pretend that the issue is so complicated that it would require decades
to be adjudged? Under these circumstances can one blame the VHP for getting
more and more impatient? The blame for VHP's and the karsevak's militancy
lies entirely at the doors of the secularists. It is not the karsevak who
is destabilising the country. The fault is that of the secularist and a
weak and indecisive Government which is afriad of its own shadow. Ten years
is a long time to wait. That is why the karsevak is blandishing his trishul.
How long are we going to appease
the irrational among the Muslim community to show how secular and law-abiding
we are as a people? It serves the rabid among the Muslim community to see
how the BJP is being reduced to a joke. And the secularists' stand has
only served to strengthen the rabid Muslims to hold on to their own and
watch the tamasha. The Babri structure was of no great architectural wonder.
Masjids are routinely levelled to the ground in Muslim countries including
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to make way for development. No Hindu has raised
his voice of protest when ancient temple had to be submerged in waters
in the course of raising dams. And, in any event, the VHP would have happily
agreed to build a special masjid for Muslims to pray in peace right in
Ayodhya itself but in some other location, away from the Janmabhoomi site.
And even as it is, as a former Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana
High Court Shri Rama Jois has correctly pointed out, the VHP is only proposing
to construct the temple on totally undisputed land belonging to the Ramjanmabhoomi
Nyas. But that wouldn't convince the secularists, who would rather see
the country reduced to ashes than worship at the altar of reason. For the
secularists, bashing the Sangh Parivar has become an end in itself.
The nation is heading for a major
crisis of unprecedented proportions that would make the Ahmedabad riots
pale into insignificance. The secularists are warned. They are driving
a frustrated people to desperation. And when that comes to pass, logic
and good sense are stood on their head and the entire nation will suffer.
And then let not the karsevaks be blamed for what is not their fault. There
has to be a limit to secular pig-headedness.
When will they ever learn that justice
delayed is justice denied?
