In the nearly 70 years since the Supreme Court of Bharat came to being, no judgement has carried as much significance as the one passed earlier this morning. When Justice Gogoi pronounced, what will from now be known as, The Verdict, shock waves went through most people, regardless of their religion. With the shock waves, came a hope: a hope that from this verdict, peace would finally prevail over the country. Of course, certain people have asked for a review of this decision but that was to be expected. After all, you can’t expect the ENTIRE population to be happy, can you?
What is the significance of this verdict? What does the construction of a temple have to do with the country at large? After all, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of temples built for Prabhu Sriram across the country. I am not going into the history of Ayodhya and the birth of Prabhu Sriram. However, this very same Supreme Court had asked for proof of the very existence of Lord Rama, not more than a few years ago. To go from that demand to this judgement shows a change of heart that can only be termed Radical! When someone who questions the very existence of Lord Ram passes judgement, one is left to wonder about the sanity of the judges! This time, the judges were in favor of the Hindus! It could be someone else, the next time around! Or could it be the judges were presented with infallible evidence?
Whether or not the evidence presented was infallible, the truth is everyone is influenced by the prevailing mood within the country. A decade ago, or even more, people were a little less demanding and more laid back as far as Hindu sentiments were concerned. When Hindus, at the time, didn’t really show any importance to Ayodhya, why would anyone else? Politically, this would have been suicide for the ruling Congress as the party had openly sided with minorities! In fact, the President of the party had declared Lord Ram to be a mythical figure! Having made this declaration, how could they have sided with the Hindu community? Most Hindus, however, never raised a need for this temple; those that did were branded as Radicals and were silenced by other Hindus. Organizations like the RSS and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) were termed terror outfits by the likes of the past president of the INC. Given this as a background, it was extremely baffling to read conflicting statements by the Congress. In one, the National Herald, official mouthpiece for them, questions how any Hindu could worship in this temple; in the other, the National spokesperson Rajdeep Surjewala claims this decision is something the Congress always wanted. The Congress is now in panic mode, or so it appears.
Bharat needs to now move on. This is a decision that will definitely reverberate during the 2024 elections but let’s not start the campaign right now. We still need the Uniform Civil Code to be passed. The country cannot have two sets of laws and that needs to be addressed as soon as possible. While the country rejoices in the return of Lord Ram, let’s now pray to him for his blessings in getting us the UCC.
Jai Sri Ram