Mandir and Masjid - Ayodhya

The much awaited Ram Mandir - Babri Masjid verdict from the Allahbad High Court is going to be announced on the 24th of this month. Apprehending the possibility of riots after the verdict, literally every one's appealing for peace. Statements from Mr. P Chidambaram and Narendra Modi reflects the mood of the two principal parties of the country. Both want peace. And, peace is something that the entire Nation wants too.

Some pseudo secularists say that the today's generation wants development and not a temple because it is the economic, and the social development which is going to take the country ahead. True, it is the road to development which is essential for the country. But in lieu of development the country's age old tradition, religious beliefs can't be compromised upon. In economics we say that we need development in totality and not just limited to GDP. It is inclusive of other things as well. As an educated Indian, i would love to see the development of the nation as a whole.

It is not the issue of a Temple or a Mosque. It's a issue of birth place of Lord Ram and 1.2. billion Hindu's faith on it. It is so obvious that the birth place of Jesus can't be other than Jerusalem or for that matter Prophet Mohammad's other than Mecca. So why is it that we start talking about secularism whenever Hindus are concerned? No Government, or court can deny the fact that Lord Ram existed and Ayodhya was His birth place.

The verdict gives both the communities an amazing opportunity to display unity. The Muslim community should itself volunteer to build a temple on the site, which is nothing less than a Mecca for the Hindus. On the other hand, the Hindu community should also offer to build a mosque nearby the temple or elsewhere.

Both the communities should give away the rigidness in their stance and shouldn't let a court or a Government decide as to what is the right thing to do. In 2003, the Prayag Peeth Shankaracharya had agreed to the building of a temple and a mosque within the area in question in Ayodhya. Even Guruji (Sri Sri Ravishankar) had suggested a similar thing. But only if this suggestion had been acted upon, we would have been spared of a further strife in the name of the religion and the long court case.

Parties like the BJP and the Congress (and all the other regional parties) may never want the problem to be solved. They like to be a part of the problem and not the solution. So expecting them to do something in this regard would be disastrous. We need leaders like Sri Sri and APJ Abdul Kalam to supervise the ecumenical committee consisting of people from all walks of life.

Shanti Shanti Shanti.

Siddharth

PS. I happened to read a very interesting article on the same by Firoz Bakht Ahmed in today's DNA newspaper. Quite a few lines have been directly lifted from the article. If you get hold of the article then do read it.