The Verdict

The day came and went and India remained calm. We all got home early from work and were glued to the television screen to hear the verdict. I heard it on the television and then rushed to the computer to download the PDF file of the verdict from the Allahabad High Court website. Read it, made some sense and then sat thinking – have I really moved on or have I stopped caring.

I distinctly remember the day of 6th December 1992. I was still in school, hadn’t reached voting age, but was aware enough to make sense of all mandal-kamandal nonsense that was happening around me. I lived in a very peaceful city that has never seen and (God willing) will never see even a curfew. One of the shopkeepers in the local market who was a BJP activist had organized a bhajan mandali right in front of a shop whose owner was a Muslim. I still purchased stuff from this Muslim shopkeeper, laughed at the poor quality of bhajans that were being sung and went home. Doordarshan, the mouthpiece of the Government of the day did not say that the mosque was pulled down and just said “bhari nuksaan”. It was the time before Times Now, NDTV and for  news reporting, BBC and Voice of America were still the credible sources. Unfortunately, India did not figure in their viewer/listener list then.

I grew up. With the advent of Internet and Wikipedia, I lapped up all that I could find about this particular controversy. There was no media frenzy to guide me – just patient research by surfing… and I reached the conclusion in my mind about what is right and what is wrong.

The folks who are against the temple try to reason that Ram never existed and that it is only a matter of fath. They call Him a only a mythological figure. Well, you can never prove that something does not exist, therefore, these so called scientists who deny His existence are purely doing it based on nothing else but their faith. While we are at it, they should consider the ASI report that clearly says that there was a temple structure below the mosque and that the mosque built on the foundation of this structure.

Let us all allow the other bunch of scientists work on proving that Ram and Krishna did in fact exist. It is unfortunate that any attempt in this country to gain a historical perspective on Hindu itihaas in past 60 years has been severely undermined in the name of secularism. In my opinion, this is an equally dogmatic approach and the folks in seat of power who discourage any such research are equally bigoted.

I am of the opinion that there a temple must be built at the place because it is a matter of faith and because a majority of Indians believe that Ram was born there and have considered it as Ram Janmabhoomi for couple of millennia. Lets not call them bigots and consider them dogmatic in their approach. It is their faith, let’s respect it.

I welcome this judgment. There is something for everyone here. I welcome that fact that one third land has been given to Muslims. I am sure government of the day can grant them additional adjoining land to build a grand mosque there – and I would whole heartedly support any such move. I am satisfied that the janma-bhoomi itself remains with Hindus and we can now start building a temple there – it need not be a bhavya mandir but it will still be more respectable than the tent that exists there right now.

I am a responsible citizen of this country of India, who happens to be a Hindu and I exhort the government to allow me to express my religious freedom within my rights.