Do we realy need a Temple?

The Age-Old Ayodhya 'Dispute'

Leaving sentiment aside for a while, and looking at this age old dispute in a purely objective light; after giving due consideration to archaeological evidence, one can conclude that the Allahabad high Court Judgement was fair and square. Why can’t we just accept the verdict and build a temple and a mosque in the respective divisions granted, instead of waiting to resolve the dispute for another 20 or so years?

Indian society and particularly, the youth, holds no particular importance to the issue today. People today understand the political mileage our politicians gain by pursuing their kind of divisive politics. But that said, we must respect 5000 year old history, build a temple- grand or otherwise and move on. We must remember that the construction of this temple, (god willing whenever that happens) symbolises our sentiment and not bravado over another religion. We must look towards a quick resolution of this dispute and not allow religion based politics to divide our society all over again.

What happened on 6th December, 1992 and its aftermath was unfortunate, but can a case be made out against the construction of a Ram temple on account of vandalism promoted by few hardliners? I would urge the Muslim community to not view this dispute as a prestige issue or a precedent for future destruction of other masjids; and respect the sentiment of their Hindu brothers. Will denying all historical and archaeological evidence and taking a ‘no compromise’ stance serve any purpose?

Lastly, I feel that certain suggestions made by irreligious parties to build a hospital/school in the disputed area, has absolutely no takers. Not only is such a solution not acceptable to either community but does not seem feasible in the largely religious society we live in.

Vasu Prada
(She is pursuing M.A. in Development Economics from South Asian University)
You can reach out to her at vasuprada16@gmail.com