Why the Dharma Dhwaja matters

MANY opinion makers who believe in Nehruvian ideas of secularism may wonder about the importance of the recent hoisting of the Dharma Dhwaja, the sacred flag atop the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya. What is so great about it? Why so much of noise around this event? What was it that overwhelmed PM Narendra Modi at this occasion?Let us first understand the facts. As per the Hindu spiritual practice, the construction of a temple is considered as complete only when a sacred flag is unfurled at its top. The Dharma Dhwaja hoisting marked the completion of this monumental complex. With this, the long and arduous journey from a contested dream to a living legacy has reached its culmination. It was a sequel to the consecration of the idol of Ram Lalla held last year.Many secularists may ask whether such a grand function in the presence of the PM is in tune with the secular spirit of the Constitution. They need to be told how President Rajendra Prasad responded to then PM Nehru's reservations about the former participating in the inauguration of the newly re-constructed Somnath Temple in Gujarat. KM Munshi, a senior Congress leader at the time, wrote: "He (Rajendra Prasad) promised that he would come and install the deity, whatever the attitude of the Prime Minister," adding that he would do the same with a mosque or a church if he were invited. This, he held, was the core of Indian secularism. "Our State is neither religious nor anti-religious…." (Pilgrimage to Freedom, volume 1, page 288). Hence, there is no need to worry about the future of secularism.Had the Congress not considered its vote bank more important than the larger national interest, the Ram Temple could have been constructed much earlier. But one wonders whether the Congress would learn any lessons. The statement of a former Himachal Pradesh minister who recently joined the BJP is telling: "As a Congress member, my family and I often felt alienated from cultural celebrations — whether it was Ram Navami, the abrogation of Article 370 or the inauguration of the Ram Mandir. While neighbours rejoiced, our family sat behind closed doors, constrained by party ideology."The unfurling of the Dharma Dhwaja symbolises the defeat of the politics of pseudo-secularism and minority appeasement pursued to protect the Muslim vote bank. It also underscores the wrong premises on which the Congress and other secularist parties have based their politics. They have failed to gauge the changing mood of the people after the Shah Bano case.The passing of The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986, by the Parliament proved to be a turning point. The response to the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and the Ayodhya yatra of LK Advani mirrored the changing popular mood. Yet, the Congress continued to cling to its so-called traditional vote bank, distancing itself from the newly awakened Hindus.Post-Shah Bano, many Muslim clergies became conscious of the value of their votes. On the other hand, the intellectual circles started seeing the larger game plan behind the Congress's appeasement politics.Finally, the saffron flag, now flying atop the Ram Janmabhoomi temple, will also serve as a reminder of three things. First, it demolishes the argument that the caste-ridden Hindu society cannot come together. Second, it tells us about the art of mobilising public opinion and building a popular movement. Third, it underscores the dharmic character of Indians, for whom shraddha, or trust, is an elixir.True, for an otherwise fragmented Hindu society, caste has been the primary rallying point. But with economic uplift and education, even those from the marginalised classes have become aware of the fact that they cannot identify themselves with those who had destroyed temples in the past. This led to the belief that they all belong to the god-fearing community of Hindus and helped them rise above caste considerations.This realisation created a fertile ground for the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and later for the BJP to mobilise masses and build a popular movement. The conversion of Hindus from backward communities in Meenakshipuram to Islam in 1982 was also a trigger. Then senior RSS functionary Moropant Pingle, VHP's Ashok Singhal and senior BJP leader LK Advani are the triumvirate of the Ayodhya movement. What was also unique to this movement was its all-India character. The level of people's participation was perhaps comparable only with the Quit India Movement of 1942. Notably, captains of the Ram temple movement creatively conceived Ramsheelas (bricks with the name Ram inscribed on them) as an easily available but effective instrument of participation. Also important was the fact that people from all walks of life, strata and castes participated in the movement. Even Left-leaning journalists witnessing the masses gathered at the first kar seva in Ayodhya in 1990 said that Hinduism was the only collective identity of the people gathered there.Lastly and perhaps the hardest lesson that the success of the Ayodhya movement holds is about the centrality of shraddha in the Indian ethos. It was this very shraddha that helped the Indian society brave the onslaughts of invaders and retain their cultural identity. During the Ayodhya movement, a more proactive version of this shraddha came to the fore and changed the contours of our history. The Dharma Dhwaja flies high, drawing energy from this very shraddha, and, in return, inculcates more strength into its mainspring.

Why the Dharma Dhwaja matters

The Ayodhya movement showed that 'shraddha' remains the deepest force in shaping India's cultural identity.

Vinay Sahasrabuddhe

Why the Dharma Dhwaja matters

The Ayodhya movement showed that 'shraddha' remains the deepest force in shaping India's cultural identity.

Vinay Sahasrabuddhe

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