By T.J.S. George

At last P.V. Narasimha Rao has been called what he really was, “the first BJP Prime Minister of India.”  The assertion is made by his own confidant P.V.R.K. Prasad in his book Asalem Jarigindante (What really happened).  A cursory look is enough to see that Rao tried to do exactly what Narendra Modi is doing now — cleansing Ayodhya of Muslim traces and making it the exclusive domain of Rama.

Let us not forget that Babri Masjid was demolished when Rao was Prime Minister.  He knew all the “secret” preparations that were being made by the Kar Sevaks assembled by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.  But he kept quiet and the Masjid was gone. Years later, the Liberhan inquiry report said VHP-BJP leaders “could just as easily have prevented the demolition” but “the hidden intention of one and all [was] to accomplish demolition.”

Narasimha Rao set up a trust to build a temple just as Narendra Modi has done now.  But his efforts failed because he didn’t get VHP-RSS support; the Hindutva lobby must have known that Rao’s game plan was to “checkmate BJP from monopolising Lord Ram.”  Now BJP does monopolise the Lord. The irony is that the intention of all politicians, irrespective of party, is to use the Lord for electoral gains.

This explains why the Congress also plays the God game despite its secular pretensions.  At a rally in Chitrakoot last year, posters appeared with pictures of “Ram Bhakt Pandit Rahul Gandhi.”  The party also held Ram Van Gaman Path Yatra tracing Rama’s route to exile. Even if Rahulji was embarrassed, he could do nothing to stop his partymen’s enthusiasm.  In any case, Democracy seems to have made it obligatory for Gods to join one political party or another.

Although the Modi Government’s thrust has been undisguised, emotions generated by the masjid demolition have not died down.  VHP leaders still celebrate the day “so that our children know its importance.” A member of the Babri Masjid Action Committee was more blunt: “Future generations should know that on this day the rule of mob won in our country.”  Are wounds too deep to heal? Optimists might have seen a sign of softening on the Hindutva side. The VHP has been celebrating the masjid demolition day as Shaurya Diwas, day of bravery. Yogi Adityanath’s Hindu Yuva Vahini toned it down to Bhagwa Diwas, saffron day.  But there were instructions to fly saffron flags in all Hindu homes. This idea was given up at the last moment because as BJP leaders explained, the Government wanted to emphasise the theme of “development.”

That was the most surprising — and, if true, encouraging — twist in the tale ever since this political one-upmanship began.  A government with saffron preferences deciding to give up a Hindutva idea and stress development instead is a pointer to what this country can become if the ruling groups remove their blinkers.  However, the actions of the Adityanath Government since the controversies began over the Citizenship Amendment Act suggest that the “development” reference was perhaps an intended slip.

Emotions over religious themes and locations are often manipulations by interested parties. This thought will surely come to anyone who reads Ayodhya: City of Faith, City of Discord by Valay Singh.  The author takes up the case of J.P. Mishra, “a regular at Ayodhya who comes at least twice a month to bathe in the Sarayu.” After visiting some temples, when they were about to part, the author asked Mishra if he would visit the Hanuman temple. “No, I am in a hurry,” was the reply.  “Do you go to Ram Janmabhoomi?” Mishra said: Never.” He believes that Rama was born in Ayodhya but “refuses to obsess about the makeshift temple” where the masjid stood. “This fuss over one temple does not attract me.” As author Valay Singh puts it: “To many locals like him, the Ram Temple movement had discredited itself even before the mosque had been demolished.”

That is the ground reality.  The average citizen is not communally inclined.  Left to himself, he will function not as a Hindu or Muslim or Jain or Christian, but as an Indian.  But he is never left to himself. He is manipulated, deluded and engineered into compromising situations.  He seldom sins, but he is incessantly sinned against. He has the appearances of a citizen, but in fact he is a captive in the hands of schemers.  He could not even see, when it happened, that a Congressman was the first BJP Prime Minister of India.