Ram Temple and Idea of India: How will India incorporate the two

February 25, 2024 | By Binny Yadav
Ram Temple and Idea of India: How will India incorporate the two

(Idea of India is akin to ‘Ram Rajya’ and  post 22 January 2024, when the Ram ‘Lalla’ is well placed in its abode the country should strive to choose the course where “Power of the State’ is directed towards the ‘welfare of the people’ to deliver ‘justice’ and ‘liberty’ and ‘equality’.)

22 January 2024, the day chosen for the consecration of Ram ‘Lalla’-the child form of one of most revered idols of faith for Hindus- in the holy city of Ayodhya, which ‘reclaimed’ its place after decades long legal battle finally won in 2019, may set the country towards choosing a new political edifice of the nation. This could either be standing by the character based on true “sovereign,secular, democratic” norms or treading towards adopting the idea of a new India that identifies political choice on the bases of religion, but it is important to prism either of these choices through the ambit of Indian constitution.

Consecration, Ram Rajya and Idea of India

The live telecast of ceremonies of 22 January, 2024 in Ayodhya may be aimed at giving opportunities to witness the moment for all those who have revered Ram not just as a deity or Avataar of Vishnu the creator, but also for those who have believed in the righteousness of Ram which they have understood through the concept of ‘Ram Rajya’. There are also those watch full eyes from across the globe who have revered India as the largest democracy of the world, who want to see how idea of India stands under the siege of state sponsored religious ceremony of such large scale led by the elected head of the ‘secular-democratic republic’, where entire country is literally painted in saffron which also happen to be the ruling party’s official colour, institutions of democracy being asked to declare national holiday, national media and also the state influenced media, all is wearing the similar colour while singing peans for Ram Lalla carefully placed besides the political icon of current India. The giant figure of this political Avatar leading baby Ram to be seated in the new temple of Ayodhya is a well designed, well thought and well advertised image for the idea of ‘new India’ which has religion in the core of its politics.

Unparalleled faith of majority of Hindus  in Ram and in the philosophies of righteousness as established by Ram ages ago is unquestionable but the adaptation of Ram as a symbol and ideology to claiming power by a political party with religious ideology is what has led India towards this difficult choice today- whether to regain the lost ground of secular democratic structure lost to the mixing of religion and politics or to be pushed towards accepting well crafted majoritarian structure of governance which has religion in its core and where temple and nationalism have been intertwined to appear as one.

Euphoria around the consecration ceremony of 22 Jan may appear as a deja vu movement of around 30 years ago in 1992 when clarion calls of ‘Jai Shree Ram’ led to the build up of 6 December events. There is little difference though, 6 December 1992, was the testing ground for India to choose between a faith that is very personal and has been practiced for very personal reasons under the defined individual boundaries and the faith which is derived from religion and crafted to suit a political institution which eyed at power by discreetly exploiting religious sentiments in the name of Ram and Ram Rajya. On December 6, 1992, with the demolition of a 16th century Mosque by a frenzied mob, people gave in to how their political masters maneuvered, unfortunately in the name of Ram while also opening up the ground for politics in the name of religion. The call of  ‘Jai shree ram’ became a tool for replacing the sanctity of Hinduism with aggression of ‘Hindutva’.

Consecration ceremony of January 2024 is the reflection of what has been impeccably crafted for the past thirty years, a religious build-up under a political ideology, brick by brick. Although the January 2024 event has the sanctity of the Supreme Court of India order unlike the events of 1992, December 6, the political indulgence in the religious ceremony which is sponsored by the state calls for a constitutional scrutiny.

Post Independence, ever since the 1949 incident of placing Ram Lalla idol inside the Mosque during the tenure of the first prime minister of India till the destruction of the Mosque in 1992 various governments have intervened in their respective ways to solve the decades old issue between the Hindu and Muslims over the Babri Mosque built over the Ram ‘janam ‘bhoomi but there never has been an attempt to build a political ground for electoral gains over the Babri Mosque-Temple issue.

The  orchestration around the event of 22 January 2024, has been the outcome of the period of around thirty years between 6 December 1992 and 22 Jan 2024. These thirty years India has vividly experimented with politics based on religion and this experiment interestingly happened under the very nose of institutions responsible for restoring and maintaining constitutional ethics. Between 1992 and 2024, political developments with clear cut mingling of religious sentiments have been enough the reasons to shake up the ‘idea of India’ which is “diverse, inclusive” without any “state religion”, as defined by its constitution.

Idea of India, Power of state and Religion in India

Three decades is a long time to work on an idea, establish it and reap the benefits. Political mobilisation around the consecration ceremony of Ram temple at Ayodhya could have been a very emotive and pious moment for the people of faith who waited for this day for over 500 years. This could have been the ceremony sans the controversies had politics stayed away from it and the governance restricted its role to facilitating the arrangements.

Controversies surrounding the ceremony have much to worry about. One, its reflection of how the religion has been allowed to guide the politics of this country which could be a dangerous trend, second, how politics in the name of religion to influence upon the electorate could dangerously change not only the “inclusive” character of India but also has potential to disbalance the equilibrium as defined through ‘Power of state’ and ‘right to religion’ in the preamble of the constitution of India.

Fear behind the indulgence of the elected government in the consecration ceremony is genuine and the logic is valid that this is clearly an articulation to influence the electorate as this bluntly goes against the statute enshrined in the Preamble to the Constitution that  asserts India is a “secular” nation with no religion of the state.

But then this frenzy around the Ram temple has been in the making at least officially for the past thirty years. Whom can we blame now when one political party under the nose of constitutional authorities has been exploiting the religious sentiments, riding up the electoral ladders and reaping and enjoying the political benefits. Whom should we blame when all this happened for past three decades and no political party or none ‘social-secular’ political alliance garnered strength to pull up the trend or the constitutional watch dogs, whom should we blame when lynching have been happening in the name of religion under the political cover of parties in power.

Ecstasy for the Ram temple minus the political indulgence is justified but with the state sponsored religious ceremony, what is next? The Ram Rajya? Article 38 of the Indian Constitution defines India as a ‘welfare state’,  which “…shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may, a social order in which justice – social economic and political – shall pervade all institutions of national life.”

The Indian constitution talks about “Justice, Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity”, it also enshrines the state, the responsibility of  “promoting the welfare of people”. India needs to revisit how and if it has failed the concept of ‘welfare state’ which is nothing but an inspiration from the ‘Ram Rajya’ which the framers of the constitution constituted for the people of India.

Can we say the Idea of India is akin to ‘Ram Rajya’ and  post 22 January 2024, when the Ram ‘Lalla’ is well placed in its abode the country should strive to choose the course where “power of the State’ is directed towards the ‘welfare of the people’ to deliver ‘justice’ and ‘liberty’ and ‘equaity’.