Author: L.K. Advani
Publication: Blog.Lkadvani.in
Date: October 3, 2010
URL: http://blog.lkadvani.in/blog-in-english/it-is-not-faith-versus-law-it-is-faith-upheld-by-law
I spent the first twenty years of my life
in Karachi. The only two languages I became conversant with during that period
were my mother tongue Sindhi, and the language I had my education in, English.
Because of my fondness for films, I could
somewhat understand Hindi and also speak some broken Hindi, but I could neither
read Hindi nor write it.
In September 1947, a month after partition,
I came over to this part of the country. The next one decade 1947 - 1957 I
worked as an RSS pracharak in different parts of Rajasthan.
Being a total ignoramus in so far as the Devanagri
script was concerned, weighed heavily on my mind. I spent a lot of time first
familiarizing myself with the Devanagri alphabet and then reading as many
Hindi books as I could.
It is during this phase that I read almost
all the historical novels about Gujarat written by Dr. Kanaiyalal Maniklal
Munshi. Having read earlier much of the fiction authored by French writer
Alexandre Dumas, Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Crists, Black Tulip
etc. I could see the influence of Dumas in Munshi's style. It is in the course
of my study of Dr. Munshi's works (written originally in Gujarati) that I
came across Jaya Somnath, a book that was to influence even my politics later.
Jaya Somnath, of course, was a fictional story
set against the backdrop of the invasion of the Somnath Temple and its ransacking
and destruction. But reading that made me interested in the story of Somnath
as it developed in modern day Independent India. In an article published in
Selections from The COMPLETE WORKS OF SWAMI VIVEKANANDA under title "The
Future of India", Swamiji writes:
"Temple after temple was broken down
by the foreign conqueror, but no sooner had the wave passed than the spire
of the temple rose up again. Some of these old temples of South India, and
those like Somnath in Gujarat, will teach you volumes of wisdom, which will
give you a keener insight into the history of the race than any amount of
books. Mark how these temples bear the marks of a hundred attacks and a hundred
regenerations, continually destroyed and continually springing up out of the
ruins, rejuvenated and strong as ever! That is the national mind, that is
the national life-current. Follow it and it leads to glory."
It is therefore only natural that, when India
became independent, many Hindus felt that 1947 should signify not only freedom
from British rule but also a clean break from those aspects of the pre-British
history that were identified with subjugation, assaults on Hindu temples,
vandalizing idols and erosion of our noble cultural traditions.
One such occasion presented itself in the
princely state of Junagadh in Gujarat's Saurashtra region where the Somnath
temple is located. Over eighty per cent of Junagadh's population was Hindu,
but its Nawab was a Muslim. On the eve of Independence, the nawab announced
the accession of his state to Pakistan. This enraged Junagadh's Hindus whose
revolt against the Nawab culminated in their setting up a parallel government
under the leadership of Samaldas Gandhi, a local Congress leader. The Nawab,
an uncaring and decadent ruler, who was highly unpopular with his people,
sought the support of Pakistan. All his tricks were of no avail, so one night
he finally fled to Pakistan.
Samaldas Gandhi and the Dewan of Junagadh,
Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto, who, incidentally, was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's father,
conveyed to India that Junagadh was acceding to India. Munshi recalls in his
book Pilgrimage to Freedom that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India's first Home
Minister and the chief architect of the integration of the princely states
into the Indian Union, handed over the telegram of accession to him with the
words: 'Jai Somnath'.
Four days after the take-over of Junagadh
on 9 November 1947 by the Government of India, Patel visited Saurashtra. He
was accompanied by N.V. Gadgil, the Minister of Public Works and Rehabilitation
of Refugees in Nehru's Cabinet. They received a rousing welcome from the people
of Junagadh. At a public meeting in his honour, Patel made an important announcement:
the government of independent India would reconstruct the historic temple
of Somnath at the same spot where it stood in ancient times, and re-install
the jyotirlingam.
Shortly after Sardar Patel's return from Junagarh,
Prime Minster Nehru convened a Cabinet meeting and formally endorsed Patel's
announcement. That evening when Patel and Munshi called on Gandhiji, he also
blessed the move, but told them that the cost of construction should be borne
by the people, and not by Government. A decision therefore was taken that
a Somnath Trust would be set up.
The Government of India appointed Dr. K.M.
Munshi as Chairman of the Advisory Committee for the construction of the Somnath
Temple. Dr. Munshi had contemplated that he would have Sardar Patel inaugurate
the temple. But by the time the construction was completed, Sardar Patel had
passed away.
In his book Pilgrimage to freedom, Dr. Munshi
writes:
"When the time came to install the deity
in the Temple, I approached Dr. Rajendra Prasad and asked him to perform the
ceremony, but added a rider to my invitation that he should accept it only
if he was prepared not to fail us.
"Dr.Rajendra Prasad that he would come
and install the deity whatever the attitude of Prime Minister and added: "I
would do the same with a mosque or church if I were invited "This, he
held, was the core of Indian secularism. Our State is neither religious nor
anti - religious.
"My foreboding proved correct. When it
was announced that Rajendra Prasad was attending the inauguration of the Somnath
Temple, Jawahar Lal vehemently protested against his going to Somnath. But
Rajendra Prasad kept his promise. "
-------------------------------------------------
The BJP's National Executive met at Palampur
(Himachal Pradesh) in June 1989 and formally adopted a resolution supporting
the Ayodhya movement. The resolution urged the Government to adopt the same
approach towards the Ayodhya Temple that the first Government of independent
India displayed towards Somnath Temple.
My decision to embark on a 10000 km long Rath
Yatra from Somnath to Ayodhya commencing Sept. 25, 1990 was intended to mobilize
support for the cause of the Ayodhya Temple. The Yatra precipitated in the
country a debate: Genuine Secularism versus Pseudo Secularism - a debate that
had first come to the fore forty years earlier when Pandit Nehru had reprimanded
Dr. Munshi for his activity related to Somnath.
Dr. Munshi writes in one of the issues of
his Bhavan's journal reproduced in Pilgrimage to Freedom:
At the end of a Cabinet meeting, Jawaharlal
called me and said : "I don't like your trying to restore Somnath. It
is Hindu revivalism."
Dr. Munshi did not react immediately. But
his considered reaction was a several pages long letter to the Prime Minister
emphasizing that his activities in relation to Somnath were not any personal
enterprise, but were in pursuance of the Government's own decision.
Stressing the social reform aspect of Somnath's
reconstruction, Munshi wrote:
"The intention to throw open the temple
to Harijans has evoked some criticism from the orthodox section of the Hindu
community. However, the objects of the Trust Deed make it clear that the temple
is not only to be open to all classes of the Hindu community, but according
to the tradition of the old temple of Somnath, also to non-Hindu visitors.
Many have been the customs which I have defied in personal life from boyhood.
I have laboured in my humble way through literary and social work to share
or reintegrate some aspects of Hinduism, in the conviction that that alone
will make India an advanced and vigorous nation under modern conditions.
The letter concludes with these stirring and
challenging words:
"It is my faith in our past which has
given me the strength to work in the present and to look forward to our future.
I cannot value India's freedom if it deprives us of the Bhagavad Gita or uproots
our millions from the faith with which they look upon our temples and thereby
destroys the texture of our lives. I have been given the privilege of seeing
my incessant dream of Somnath reconstruction come true. That makes me feel-makes
me almost sure-that this shrine once restored to a place of importance in
our life will give to our people a purer consciousness of our strength, so
vital in these days of freedom and its trials."
On reading this letter, V.P. Menon, the legendary
civil servant who assisted Sardar Patel in the gigantic task of the integration
of the princely states, wrote a missive to Munshi. 'I have seen your masterpiece.
I for one would be prepared to live and, if necessary, die by the views you
have expressed in your letter.'
----------------------------------------------------
In my autobiography, completed in early 2008,
I have recorded that a solution to the Ayodhya dispute was imminent during
Vajpayee's rule. On pages 419-421, I have written:
"As one of the principal participants
in the Ayodhya movement, it had been my endeavour throughout the six years
of the NDA rule to see how the dispute could be resolved speedily and peacefully.
"The three options for dispute-resolution
were obvious:
1) Legislation; 2) Judicial verdict; and
3) Amicable settlement between representatives of Hindu and Muslim communities.
"After a thorough review of both the
political and judicial aspects of the Ayodhya issue, I came to the conclusion
that the best path to follow was the last option- and I articulated it on
several occasions, both inside and outside Parliament.
"In a nutshell, my view was: The potential
for a legislative solution cannot be ruled out, but its chances are slim.
The judiciary may give its verdict, but it is likely to upset one side or
the other. The third option offers the prospect of a solution of mutual acceptability
and durability. Of course, even a mutually acceptable settlement has to be
sanctified by the judiciary, which has to extinguish all the pending cases
before it.
In this sense, the ultimate solution will
be a combination of options 2 and 3.
"I am happy that Atalji and I succeeded
in convincing our allies in the NDA to endorse this constructive approach.
Accordingly, the alliance's election manifesto for the 2004 parliamentary
elections stated: 'The NDA believes that an early and amicable resolution
of the Ayodhya issue will strengthen national integration. We continue to
hold that the judiciary's verdict in this matter should be accepted by all.
At the same time, efforts should be intensified for dialogue and a negotiated
settlement in an atmosphere of mutual trust and goodwill.
"I am gratified to record here that,
as Home Minister, I had made considerable progress in bringing influential
representatives of the Hindu and Muslim communities on a common negotiating
platform. This endeavour was facilitated by some sincere and well-meaning
mediators on both sides. Several rounds of talks, beyond the glare of publicity,
took place. A mutually acceptable solution was clearly in sight, which would
have paved the way for construction of the temple.
"The principles and contours of a workable
agreement had emerged in the beginning of 2004, and it was decided by the
two sides that an announcement to this effect could be made immediately after
the elections to the 14th Lok Sabha in May. Of course, this was done on the
expectation, on both the Hindu and Muslim sides, that the Vajpayee government
would win a renewed mandate in the election and take the responsibility of
implementing the mutually agreed formula. Sadly, that was not to happen.
"I am, however, a firm believer in destiny.
I am convinced that the rise of a befitting temple at Ramjanmabhoomi in Ayodhya
is pre-destined. How and when it will happen is a matter of secondary importance
to be determined by the forces of history. But the fact that it will happen
is as certain as the certainty that brought the oft-demolished and oft reconstructed
Somnath temple into existence yet again.
"I am humbled by the awareness that destiny
granted me an opportunity to play a role in this collective national effort
that is waiting for the fulfillment of a centuries-old Hindu resolve. My only
wish and appeal is that our Muslim brethren come forward with a gesture of
magnanimity and goodwill that matches that of the Hindus."
I feel extremely happy to say today that after
the landmark judgement delivered by the Allahabad High Court two days back,
the country has arrived at a fortuitous point, where Option 2 and 3 identified
above can well be blended.
As both the RSS as well as the BJP have emphasized,
this judgement has given judicial recognition to the fact that millions in
the country do believe that the make shift temple where Ram Lala is presently
installed is Ram Janma Bhoomi - the birthplace of Rama.
The situation no longer is Faith versus Law,
it is Faith upheld by Law.
