Jawaharlal Nehru's vision of a secular India, and a
multinational, multiethnic, multireligious, pluralistic democracy hit a
new low this week.
The
Babri Mosque in Ayodhya built on the site of an earlier mandir (Hindu
Temple) was in Babur's vision intended to bring members of the two
faiths together. In Hindu mythology the location is the birthplace of
the god Rama.
Babur had defeated the Muslim pathan sultan Ibrahim Lodhi, at Panipat but that did not eliminate all pathans who had ruled India then for several centuries. Thus Babur's natural allies became the Hindu rajas heretofore subservient to the Delhi Sultans. In this construct the Ayodhya Mosque makes sense, not in Narendra Modi's version.
So
here we are five centuries later, and a triumphant Modi trumpeting a
final Hindu freedom. Certainly not freedom from poverty or even hunger
as the stark statistics point out. More than a fifth (21 percent) of Indians (250 million) survive on less than $2 a day. And the screaming crowds lauding Modi's Ayodhya are hardly representative of India's place on the 2023 Happiness rankings where
India at #126 just behind Liberia and Ethiopia and not far from Lebanon
and Afghanistan (also near the bottom) who have been suffering civil
wars. India is also far below arch rival Pakistan who at #108 is closer
to Turkey (#106) a middle income country. The remaining country on the
subcontinent, Bangladesh, at #118, is also happier than India despite
its own tumultuous journey to freedom.
There are critics of the report who point out its emphasis on economic factors while ignoring cultural aspects of life where India could excel. But then why is it so far behind Pakistan and Bangladesh also part of the culture of the subcontinent, one would have to ask.
Spearheading
a colossal fundraising effort, Mr. Modi has raised 3,500 crore rupees
(35 billion) for the building of a temple complex spanning some 70
acres. Still under construction it is to date nowhere near completion,
and that is also why some Hindu priests and Brahmins refused to attend
the elaborate inauguration ceremony led by Mr. Modi. Four key Hindu religious authorities warned
that consecrating an unfinished temple goes against the scriptures. By
the way, in these 70 acres was it impossible to cordon off a historic
building almost five centuries old and save it?
Leaders from the Congress Party, now Modi's main opposition, also boycotted the event accusing him of trying to score political points ahead of the election this year (2024) -- to be held over several weeks during April and May. Modi is ahead in the polls but an extra margin of safety never hurt anybody.
The trouble with Modi is a tendency to exceed limits that a responsible leader or politician would not. Moreover, his focus almost in its entirety is on India's 80-plus percent Hindu vote. With a 1.4 billion population, however, the remaining 20 percent still amounts to nearly 300 million people. These are the Muslims 14.2 percent, Christians 2.3 percent and Sikhs 1.7 percent. The rest are an assortment of religions from Zoroastrianism to Jainism. One would expect the opposition Congress Party to woo and grab these voters. Not so far, and how well it succeeds will be reflected in how well it does in the elections.
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