Remember Ayodhya, Learn From Sikkim
Today, 06 December, marks the 19th anniversary of that ignominious winter day in Ayodhya when an unresolved issue, older than Independent India, snowballed into the tragic demolition of Babri Masjid and pulled the entire nation into a vortex of communal violence. The downward spiral continues and throws up no victors, leaving behind only victims.
The episode, irrespective of what it achieved for political ambitions, left the nation scarred. It’s close to two decades since a 1.5 lakh strong mob stormed the mosque and pulled it down. The first title suit over the disputed land [a 47 acre tract] was filed in the Allahabad High Court way back in 1950. Several other suits and petitions followed and it was only in September 2010, sixty years later, that a verdict was delivered. Closure, even if it is only legal and not emotional, however continues to evade this issue and the verdict has since been stayed by the Supreme Court. The lesson is clear - matters of faith, even when packaged in dry legalese as a title suit, are best left out of the courts. These should be left for the believers to resolve. But when it comes to matters of faith and belief, politics monopolises the divisions and does not allow resolutions. The Babri Masjid was constructed in 1528 CE; the first officially recorded communal riots over it were in the 1850’s, when, after seven years of such violence, the British fenced the area to divide the places of worship of the two faiths in question. The issue conflagrated again in 1949, when idols of Ram, Sita and Laxman were smuggled into the Babri Masjid and placed there. With the horrors of the Partition violence still fresh in everyone’s minds, the Government sealed the area. Since then, the issue has surfaced often and confrontation peaked in 1992 when the Babri Masjid structure was demolished by a mob. The destruction was a huge blow to our country’s secular credentials and an oft-quoted incident used to fan passions and communal hatred by both sides. This is not an issue likely to be resolved any time soon and the latest political wind in the BJP sails appears to be a revisit of the Ram Mandir promise.
When one talks of allowing the believers to resolve issues among themselves, the example one has in mind is the Guru Nanak Lama Sahib of Chungthang in North Sikkim. This institution has an interesting history. A Gurudwara sits alongside a plot which the Sikkimese believe to have been blessed by Guru Rinpoche during his travels here in the 8th Century CE. The field, marking, in a way, the northernmost extremity to which rice grows in Sikkim, is believed to grow paddy from the rice sprinkled there by Padmasambhava and there is a rock there with an eternal spring of holy water, again, blessed by Guru Rinpoche. Sitting in the Gurudwara’s porch is a gnarled tree, believed to have sprouted from Padmasambhava’s walking stick. Given the reverence Guru Rinpoche commands in Sikkim, it was in a sparkling gesture of confidence and harmony that the Chungthang residents apportioned a plot in this sacred tract for the construction of a Gurudwara when the army personnel posted there required one. Admittedly, this sharing was not always amiable, but it was never confrontational or spiteful either. And the arrangement that has now been worked out is a brilliant example of confraternity. When the Assam Rifles was moving out of Chungthang some years back, the fate of the Gurudwara worried every mind, until, yet again, a remarkable resolution was worked out. The Gurudwara is now the administration responsibility of the Chungthang residents who sit on its prabandhak committee in what is loosely referred to as the Lama Committee [for a Gurudwara]. This facility was of great service in the wake of the 18 September Earthquake, accommodating a relief camp and operating an open kitchen for all. It continues to be a Gurudwara, one that calls itself “Guru Nanak Lama Sahib”, and is managed and looked after by the Buddhist residents of Chungthang, who ensure that Granthis are hosted properly when they visit and that the prayers and sanctity of this Sikh place of worship is maintained. This is a model of mutual respect that the rest of India could learn from on this anniversary of the Babri Masjid Demolition. Admittedly, Chungthang is a very small town and the Gurudwara there was never the nerve centre of communal politics. But it could easily have become one in the hands of more radical mindss; but the people, the real believers, stepped up first and charted a more celebratory course…
Only today, I was scrolling through the Babri Masjid Demolition issue over the Internet. I would like to point out here that till the year 1885, both the Hindu as well as the Muslim Community had access to the Masjid, cordially performing their religious ceremonies/prayers between the demarcated walls of the same Masjid. It was only later during the Narsimha Rao regime that things took worst turn, not to forget the yatra spearheaded by Advani,a well orchestrated step that resulted to the demolition on the December 6th of 1992. the choreographed incident by the radicals resulted in the death of more than 7000 individual, a figure which will haunt these political touts for decades. No one knows who built the temple there,and why should we care about Babur in whose name the mosque was built by his then general Mir Baqshi. But the impact has changed the face of the harmony of the generation down the line..the generation which breathes now. So much in the name of POLITICS. The Gurudwara referred here might fail to find its place in the pages accessible to every Indian, but its not either small as its impact on spreading the message of humility, devotion,respect, and more importantly..the religious believes of us Sikkimese.No doubt we were blessed by Guru Rinpoche, we still are and will be....
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