Ayodhya
Celebrating
Intercommunity Relations
By Ram Puniyani
11 December, 2003
Media
has its own evaluation of newsworthiness of an event. What is projected
in the print and electronic media is just is just a pick from the battery
from different social and political events occurring world over. Many
such events, which we may feel are important, may not find a place in
print or electronic media. One such event was recently held Roza-Iftar
at Hanumangarhi at Ayodhya. Very few channels took a note of it and
the major section of print media preferred to ignore it for reasons
best known to the media managers and those who determine the policies
of media.
On 20th November
hundreds of Muslims came to the biggest and most popular temple in Ayodhya,
Hanuman garhi. They offered Namaz and broke the fast in the sacred precincts
of this temple. Incidentally it is one amongst many temples in Ayodhya
whose mahants are opposed to the politicization of temple mosque issue
and those who feel that solution to the Ram temple Babri mosque should
be left to the people of Ayodhya.
Incidentally Ayodhya
has been the holy place not only of Hindus but also of Buddhists, Muslims
and Jains as well. The Nawab of Awadh had many a Hindu courtiers,one
of whom got this temple built on the land donated by the Nawab and even
today this temple has a huge landed estate donated by the Avadh Nawab.
While VHP and its cohorts are out to force a decision in favor
of the temple most of the people from Ayodhya are sick of the Ram Temple
campaign as it has affected the life of all the residents of Ayodhya
in an adverse manner. Their business has come down, many business families
had to shift their work to nearby towns and overall this prosperous
town is faced with grim economic situation. As one of the mahants put
it, 'Äúwe have
lost our independence as the city has become a sort of fortress with
police regulating our movements at every stage'Äù.
All the communal
hate which has been poured out seems to have eluded the psyche of people
of Ayodhya who seem to have seen the plot behind the attempt to force
a Ram temple at the disputed area. Before the event planned for 17th
October, the local Muslim community was gripped by a great amount of
fear, and it is at that time that the local Mahants went to the Muslim
bastis assuring them that they are not alone. It is also noteworthy
that the turnout planned by VHP was nowhere in sight and just the small
number which came out had very little percentage of local population.
It comprised mainly of those who came from Southern states, the people
from UP and places nearby to Ayodhya were few and far between. It is
in this context that one sees the great relevance of local intercommunity
interaction. Mahant Gyandas of Hanuman garhi and many other such Mahants
talking the language of peace and harmony, enjoy a great prestige amongst
Ayodhya people, those from all the communities.
The initiatives
taken by such Mahants have a great healing touch on the wounded psyche
of intercommunity relations. In a way this is the best way to bridge
the gap between communities, the gap which has been consciously manufactured
and widened by vested elements to bake their electoral bread. In the
current scenario, the political events which have been shaped during
last two decades with Gujarat being the dump to which hate campaign
can stoop to achieve its political goals, the hate towards minorities
and suspicion
towards the majority community has worsened. The incessant violence
has led to the alienation of a large section of minorities and this
is leading to
ghettoisation at physical and psychology levels. The existence of 'Äòmini
Pakistans'Äô has gone up. Practically every city has Muslim
dominated areas, addressed by this derogatory term. At the same time
borders have been erected between the areas inhabited by one community
vis a vis the other.
How does one work
to unwind this situation? How can we build the intercommunity relations
afresh? One recalls that Indian traditions had a rich intermix of practices
coming from all the religions inhabiting this land. The cultural ingredients
come from all the sources, from all the streams which lived here. Be
it the music, literature, art craftsmanship, architecture
or the sartorial patterns one can clearly see the influence of both
the religions. At religious level Bhakti and Sufi both were extremely
popular and were based on the available spiritual wealth irrespective
of from where it came. Kabir, Nanak, Bhakti and Sufi saints are the
high point of this. Classical Hindustani music cannot be imagined without
the contributions of Hindu and Muslim stalwarts both. The achievements
in the literary world are no different. In a way one can say the divide
has not been along the religious lines but across the elite and the
average people.
The average people
thronging the Sufi shrines and following Bhakti Saints came from both
the religions. The Shudras in particular found an escape by going to
Sufi shrines. It is only the elite Brahminical streams which were exclusionist
and kept the average people out from the precincts, which they controlled.
Spirituality has a great bonding power, and spirituality does not recognize
the religious boundaries outlined by the elite. Same applies to most
of the arenas of human life and discourse. Holi festival beginning from
the Muslim zamindars house in the UP villages and Shudras participation
in the Moharrum falls in the same category. Love thy neighbor has been
the dictum in the life of the communities. There are shrines of Christian
saints thronged by people of different religions. There still are churches
in the city of Mumbai, like the one in Mahim where people from all religions
go to pray and seek the blessings. How long can they withstand the pressures
of the rising tide of politics which claims to derive its legitimacy
from a particular religion is a matter of anybody'Äôs guesswork.
Will this politics start encroaching upon our food habits? Will it start
to influence our dance and music is again a matter of conjecture, but
those things are under a threat is above any shadow of doubt with the
lengthening shadows of trishuls.
But now the neighbor
belonging to the other community has been sent packing to the distant
ghetto, as the communal violence instilled a mortal fear for safety
and security. The neighbor-hoods are now converging to one community
norm and in such situations the retrograde religiosity replaces the
librating spirituality. In such situations the conservatives of the
community are dominant, be they Mullahs or Acharya of different shades.
The ghettoized community tries to withdraw in a shell and the gradually
increasing physical distance creates more suspicions. These suspicions
further weaken the possibilities of emotional bandings and the hate
propaganda gets the most fertile situations to perpetuate it. The vicious
circle sets itself.
No amount of demystification
is as effective as the efforts to bring the communities together on
common grounds, the physical closeness. Inter community celebrations,
the participation in each others festivals is a powerful tool of creating
the solid bridges which are lasting and can withstand the venom of hate
propaganda. What happened in Hanuman Garhi, right in the heart of the
place which is being battered by the politics of Hate, can be the glorious
example of proactive affirmative actions in promoting National integration,
which is a prerequisite of democratic society. Similar experiments have
also been undertaken by various secular action groups, but obviously
there newsworthiness in sufficient to draw the attention of media which
sees that its circulation graphs or viewer-ship ratings can go up more
by highlighting the events which are sensational, even if they have
a very negative impact on our national psyche and social connectivity.