India-Pakistan cricket matches are often billed by promoters as ‘Qayamat’ for the fervor with which they are fought by the players and their supporters in the stands. However, at the Opening Ceremony of the recently concluded Commonwealth Games, the Pakistani contingent was cheered into the stadium (uproarious has different meaning) by some sixty thousand Indian spectators. Indeed, after the home team, it was the Pakistani contingent which was greeted the most warmly. This was a spontaneous reaction, owing nothing to the strategies of the Ministry of External Affairs or the tactics of the Home Ministry. The reaction was so natural that its very simplicity made hearts on either side of the border well up with emotion.
Despite recent differences, we belong to the same land. We share a conjoined history of not ten or twenty, but thousands of years (aeons conflicts with five thousand years). Some of us became Buddhists, other Jains, some Christians, some Muslims, and yet others Sikhs. But, whatever our persuasion, we breathed the same air, and shared the same space. So when the people of India and Pakistan are allowed to act on their own, away from the self-serving machinations of politicians and military regimes, they behave like long-separated twins.
What is true of the part is true of the whole. Consider the dispute between Hindus and Muslims over a small scrap of land in Ayodhya. Undeniably there has been a legal battle for sixty years, but neither side feels compelled to fight or destroy each other over the latest court verdict apportioning the land in Solomonic fashion. Through the length and breadth of the country, all Hindus and Muslims feel the same way. Those who have neither a political nor a financial axe to grind think only of the nation’s welfare and the concerns of the common man.
A few days ago, the Sunni WAKF Board, Babri Masjid Action Committee, All India Muslim Personal Law Board and other Islamic groups held a conference on the Court’s decision on Ayodhya. Many of the speakers urged that the Court’s decision be accepted and that Muslims move on and greet the future. Member of Rajya Sabha, Rashid Alvi’s article in a daily publication expressed the opinion of a true man of Islam. Alvi reminded Muslims that after Independence, theocratic Pakistan declared itself an Islamic state. The Muslims who stayed on in India at that time were so fearful of a like reaction that they took down the Muslim League flag and unfurled the Indian tricolour overnight. The then national leadership of India could, had it so wished, easily have declared India a Hindu State, because the severance of India and Pakistan was based on religion. But the Hindu majority chose to declare India a secular country. In his article, Alvi advised Muslims to show similar generosity in the Ayodhya matter. He reminded Muslims that Punjab alone had hundreds of mosques neglected since Independence. Then why create such a furore over the Babri Masjid alone?
The truth is that we need to rethink not just the Ayodhya issue, but Hindu-Muslim relations in their entirety. And this thinking must arise from love and acceptance; it must be based on progress. The trouble is that the prominent faces and voices on both sides of the argument are either fundamentalists or followers of false secularism. Their numbers include many senior journalists, whom I respect and with whom I share deep and warm friendships. But when I read their articles or listen to them speak, I often feel that their secularism is a mere stunt. They neither have a grip on the ground realities of the situation nor are they capable of understanding public sentiment. The solution they propose is to build the temple and the mosque adjacent to each other. This is, at best, a romantic notion. On the one hand, we would like to foster love, respect and harmony between the followers of both faiths. On the other, we suggest a solution that will never allow both communities to live peacefully together.
I had occasion to speak with a prominent reporter, a vociferous supporter of this solution. I asked him, suppose someone forcibly entered your home, and set up camp outside your bedroom. Sixty years of litigation later, if the verdict acknowledged that the house is yours, but allowed the interloper to stay on, and further asked that you both live in harmony, would you be able to do this? Isn’t it far more likely that every time you enter your home and head towards your bedroom, seeing the interloper there will make your blood pressure skyrocket?
The same argument applies to Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura. No Muslim can deny that these three places are home to venerated Hindu gods Ram, Shiva, and Krishna. Muslims readily acknowledge that Muslim invaders had ordered that the temples situated in these places be razed and replaced with mosques. As long as the mosques remain here, Hindu rage will keep flaring up in incidents of the type the karsevaks perpetrated in Ayodhya. On the other hand, if Muslims respect the Shariat law, which disallows the building of a mosque on a disputed site, and in the process, correct a mistake made long ago, tremendous benefits will follow.
Firstly, fundamentalists of both faiths will be forced to shut shop. Secondly, it will create a historic communal friendship that will be the cynosure of the world for all time to come. Thirdly, the enormous effort and energy expended in the conflict will be harnessed towards development and progress for the entire nation.
But the biggest advantage is that India’s one hundred and ten crore people will be overwhelmed beyond speech. Then, not the Pakistani contingent alone, but all Muslims, be they from India, Pakistan, or any other country, will be welcomed in each Hindu home and every Hindu neighbourhood with the kind of reverence that can only be Godly. That is when brotherhood will truly take root. That is when each Indian will be master of his destiny.
This concrete step will in no way harm Islam because this is not a petition to build a temple at Mecca or Medina. This is a way to free the Hindu sanctums of Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura from the clutches of communalism and to reestablish their rightful place in history and geography. This is only possible if fundamentalists on both sides of the communal divide are removed from the process of bridging the divide. It is time for all Indians to gird their loins and prepare the national leadership to lead the way.
*The author is a renowned journalist. See www.vineetnarain.net
This article was published in various regional dailies on 24th Oct. 2010 throughout India
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