Ram Temple

July 24, 2020

Since about a week, on the days I don’t have to rush out of bed, I’ve been taking a selfie of my face, in the light of a 8Watt bulb. It illuminates a lot of my flaws – wrinkles, double chin, age spots etc. Then I sketch the image with a 4B pencil. My drawing skills have improved a lot with the online course I studied with, but not enough and so far none of the images look at all like me – well, the last one does a bit, in parts. 

The ‘not me’ images have been interesting to build personalities around, allowing me a dive into parts of myself. On the first day my sketch of myself looks like a 55 year old man – a revolutionary building the ideals of a new socio-political system. The second sketch, a woman who I imagine would wear starched, white cotton, sarees, looks like she is setting out on a protest march. I imagine she could be part of Gandhi’s salt march. A freedom fighter. The third day is almost caricatural – the eyes pop out and the mouth is scowling deeply (though it was smiling in the selfie) – she is saying “I see this and I am disgusted.’ This morning’s sketch has eyes closed, I can imagine her wanting to turn inwards,  release tension and breathe – but her furrowed brows tell another story. I feel I have a magic camera that captures something beyond the surface. 

Last night, all four of these inner personalities watched an interview on tv – around the Ram temple whose foundation stone will be laid down on August 5^th, by the PM. Besides the obvious critiques of this – the money spent on this temple that could be used to build hospitals and clinics – there was a deeper unease ‘we’ felt. 

The man being interviewed spoke of how the whole country, including Muslims (I guess he assumed that ALL Hindus automatically would) needed to rally around this temple. He said the Muslims should have voluntarily given up their claim to the land, but they didn’t. He said Ram’s story is the story of sacrifice and since Hinduism propagates non-violence it is the dharma our country needs to back. Of course he lives in his own little lie which forgets how Hinduism with its caste system is deeply violent, how in current day India non-Hindus have been forcefully made to say ‘Jai Shree Ram’, they have been beaten and killed in Ram’s name. But it is a lie that he seems to inflict on the entire nation. We must all deny some things happened, and are still happening -- and many do. But a blind nation is a dying nation. The man from sketch one would definitely write about this.

The man being interviewed also said that the temple building should not be politicised. An opposition politician had made a comment on how inappropriate the timing of this temple is and the amount of money going into it could be used elsewhere. The donations the temple fund is seeking from corporate CSR should not go into the temple trust, should it? But I imagine how they will be bullied to contribute – it’s simple, contribute or we will stall your development plans. Tie you up so deeply in red tape that you will sink. In the climate that is being built around the temple narrative any criticism will be deemed anti-national and we might be booked under some terrifying act that will lock us up without bail for an indefinite period. This stuff is already happening. The freedom fighter from sketch two would march against it even when she knew the consequences. But the interviewer who has been vocal against many BJP initiatives did not offer a contrary opinion. I think he was weighing his words – what will be allowed and acceptable on National TV around the temple issue I wonder? We might just see an uneasy wordless ‘support’ of it from those who disagree. I hope not.

It will be interesting to observe how BJP supporters will react to this. Some I know are brainwashed beyond any independent thought and will wholeheartedly support it. Others, will not comment on it even if it is something against their own beliefs. Their complicit silence also is blameworthy in my opinion. In a free, secular, democratic nation, no temple rhetoric should be imposed on all its citizens and those doing it only can because of the backing of these silent ones. There is a part of me, like the image in sketch three, that still is stunned, and disgusted, by this non-questioning, this allowing of verbal, emotional, financial and ultimately physical violence. And I happen to agree that Ram's story is partly about sacrifice, and add that he would not endorse this. Speak out you silent God, your name is being hijacked to do evil deeds.

I do want to be able to pull away from all this and breathe, but it’s not possible. I fear the things to come. I see flashes of people being chased and beaten, of being trolled on social media and destroyed, of families and friends fighting over this and being divided. The Ram temple has been weaponised but may we keep struggling for a world that "has not been broken up into fragments… where words come from the depths of truth… where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way…"