Mandir, masjid, and Constitution: At Sambhal, a promise betrayed

Even the sensible remark by RSS main Mohan Bhagwat, that it volition not bash to spell digging nether each mosque looking for a temple, is forgotten. Or, possibly the sarsanghchalak needs to again travel retired and archer his Parivar that his connection wasn’t an afterthought oregon an aspiration but an instruction. After all, the RSS, arsenic the Maharashtra predetermination results show, is taken earnestly by the BJP.

The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act is nether situation successful the Supreme Court. As an editorial successful this insubstantial flagged, the highest tribunal has called it a cornerstone of our secular principles and astatine the aforesaid clip has asked what’s incorrect successful uncovering “facts” astir a structure. This enactment of “fact-finding” is itself fraught with peril and often motivated. What stops anyone from going to immoderate tribunal and magistrates ordering “surveys” of mosque aft mosque, religion aft church, gurdwara aft gurdwara? Of course, immoderate Islamic rulers destroyed oregon defiled Hindu temples, they defied the Islamic tenet of “Lakum dinokum waley yadeen” (To you, your religion, to me, mine).

The Sambhal Shahi Masjid contention is simply a cleverly engineered conspiracy to support the Hindu-Muslim cookware simmering. The mode the petition was filed, and the velocity with which the survey was ordered each rise questions astir the sanctity of owed process.

After the motivation and ineligible triumph of the Ram Temple successful Ayodhya, determination is simply a run for Kashi and Mathura. Leader aft person has said these 3 and nary more. Now, there’s Sambhal. Every different day, a mosque is nether the scanner of the alleged “Hindu” activists, TV cameras and YouTubers beryllium waiting, lawyers are acceptable to record a petition. All dependable and fury signifying something.

For a moment, let’s hold with the premise of Vishwa Hindu Parishad that determination are much than 40,000 mosques built aft demolishing temples. But today’s Muslim assemblage has thing to bash with this. It’s similar arresting a British tourer astatine the airdrome for her forefathers’ crimes during assemblage rule. Muslims successful India consciousness arrogant not to hint their lineage from the Mughals, but from Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Sufi saints, and their Indian heritage.

For Hindu-Muslim amity, Bharat Ratna Maulana Azad drew a parallel betwixt “Vedantism” and the Islamic rule of “Wahdat-e-Deen”, meaning the oneness of religion. This was meant to harvester the efforts of Hindus and Muslims for a brighter and amended India.

If the British rulers banked upon the Hindu-Muslim divide, today’s vote-bank authorities is hell-bent connected reviving it. Talk of counting castes and “batenge toh katenge”, spell hand-in-hand with 1 nation, 1 everything, sabka saath, sabka vikas. The disruptions caused by the caller economy, the rural-urban divide, the situation successful acquisition and employment, and the governmental mobilisation astir caste and community, are each forces of alteration — but they tin besides easy go forces of part and tension.

Former Prime Minister V P Singh, the designer of Mandal, described a person arsenic a resolver of conflicts. He spoke of a script wherever radical are lasting successful enactment with their buckets to cod h2o erstwhile a combat breaks retired astir who should beryllium the archetypal successful the queue. Many radical conscionable look the different way, nary 1 wants to get progressive until 1 idiosyncratic walks up to marque some sides speech and settles the substance amicably. That’s the politician, Singh said, the aam aadmi arsenic aam neta. A idiosyncratic who uses the motivation authorization of their powerfulness to resoluteness struggle alternatively than deepen it.

Let’s look around. Of course, the Constitution tells america — it has been telling america for 75 years — what governs the solution of conflicts, but however galore politicians contiguous speech the connection of trying to calm radical down, and find a mode out? There tin beryllium and determination volition beryllium different Sambhal. We volition each beryllium tested for our professed committedness to the Constitution and the nation. Do we person the courageousness and the contented to locomotion up, similar V P Singh’s aam neta, and assistance find a solution?

The writer is erstwhile chancellor, Maulana Azad National Urdu University