From: bond@jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca (Girish)
Subject: BEYOND AYODHYA'S WATERSHED - Muslims Have To Rackon With Realities
Keywords: Ayodhya, Hindu, Muslim, politics.
Organization: University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, Canada
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 00:08:32 GMT


         Following is an article on the  recent  developments  on  Ayodhya
    dispute  by Shri Girilal Jain, a veteran journalist and former editor-
    in-chief of "Times of  India".  The  article  appeared  in  "Times  of
    India",  December  14, 1992. He talks about various possible scenarios
    and options for Muslim leadership to get this issue resolved once  for
    all.

    -- Girish.
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------

                          _B_E_Y_O_N_D _A_Y_O_D_H_Y_A'_S _W_A_T_E_R_S_H_E_D

                     _M_u_s_l_i_m_s _H_a_v_e _T_o _R_e_c_k_o_n _W_i_t_h _R_e_a_l_i_t_i_e_s

                             By Shri Girilal Jain

         An historic opportunity for genuine  and  long-term  Hindu-Muslim
    understanding offered by repeated and passionate pleas by Hindu organ-
    isations for the Ram Janma Bhoomi site  in  Ayodhya  has  been  thrown
    away.  But  all is not yet lost. Something can still be salvaged and a
    new beginning made.

         Amidst widespread riots touched off  by  the  demolition  of  the
    ambiguous  Babri  structure  in  Ayodhya, it would, on the face of it,
    appear perverse to  suggest  that  this  very  development  offers  us
    another  chance. But this is so, as I hope to show. Of course, certain
    preconditions have to be met if this opportunity  too  is  not  to  be
    wasted. THE BLOATED RHETORIC OF SECULARISM, CONSTITUTIONALISM AND RULE
    OF LAW HAS TO GIVE WAY TO COMMON SENSE  AND  REALISM  and  the  Muslim
    leadership,  such  as  it  is,  has  to  recognise  the urgent, indeed
    desperate, need for a change of course on its part. 

    _T_o_u_g_h _C_o_n_d_i_t_i_o_n_s

         The preconditions are tough. The chances are that they  will  not
    be  met. The Muslim leadership has not shown much capacity for realism
    at any critical juncture since the battle of  Plassey  in  1757.  This
    observation  applies  as  much  to  the  1940 Lahore resolution of the
    Muslim League in favour of partition as to other critical moves. There
    have, of course, been exceptions. But men like Maulana Azad have never
    commanded the allegiance of the community.

         Similarly, THE DOMINANT RULING ELITE, ESPECIALLY THAT IN  CONTROL
    OF  THE  MEDIA, ARE TOO INTOXICATED WITH BORROWED IDEAS AND PHRASES TO
    GIVE UP THE EMPTY RHETORIC OF SECULARISM AND RULE OF LAW. The prospect
    is that the rhetoric will continue to bloat.

         On top of it, we have judges ready to usurp  the  powers  of  the
    executive  in  their  anxiety  to  prove  their  credentials  and  the
    President of the republic who does not believe that discretion behoves
    his  office better than public or semi-public statements. Even so, one
    must hope against hope. The apparently impossible does become possible
    if only once in a blue moon.

         A number of points were self evident long before  the  demolition
    of the structure in Ayodhya. First, Muslims could not possibly hope to
    get the Ramlalla idols removed from there, either  on  their  own,  or
    with  the  help  of  the  government,  and  reconvert it into a proper
    mosque.

         Secondly, the denial of that space for inclusion in the  proposed
    Ram  temple would keep alive the centuries-old dispute and continue to
    poison Hindu-Muslim relations.

         Thirdly, the stage was past when the issue could be put back into
    cold storage. However condemnatory one's view of the activities of the
    VHP, the RSS, and the BJP, THEY HAD MOBILISED HINDU OPINION TO A PITCH
    UNKNOWN IN THE HISTORY OF HINDUS AS HINDUS.

         Fourthly, a "compromise" solution was not possible in view of the
    attachment  of  millions of Hindus to the site called Ram Janma Bhoomi
    and the Muslim refusal to concede it. Finally,  courts  could  not  be
    particularly  useful,  however  elevated  their view of themselves and
    however great the trust in them of the proponents of the rule of law.

         All that notwithstanding, however, it was unrealistic  to  expect
    either  that  Muslim leaders would agree to hand over the site for the
    proposed temple, or  that  the  government  would  take  it  over  and
    transfer it to the VHP, or that it could persuade Muslim leaders to be
    realistic. My own pleas to both was a case of hoping against hope.

         The controversial building is now gone; the government's  "brave"
    declarations notwithstanding, ONE MUST BE OUT OF ONE'S MIND TO BELIEVE
    THAT IT CAN EVER BE BUILT. The consequences would be too grim even for
    a Nero, or a Babar, or an Aurangzab, to contemplate though one can not
    be too sure about our courts anxious to order the government about.

         A Ram Mandir already exists on the site, even if a makeshift one.
    The  government's proposal to rebuild domes appropriate to a mosque on
    top is too ridiculous for words and speaks of the straits to which  it
    has  been  reduced.  It  can, of course, get a Ram temple built on the
    adjoining land and hope that it can then persuade Hindus to shift  the
    idols. But that is moonshine. 

    _T_w_o _R_a_m _T_e_m_p_l_e_s

         The present government can at best begin constructing  a  temple;
    it  is  unlikely  to  be  in a position to complete it. And what if it
    does? We shall then have two Ram temples side by side,  both  devalued
    because neither will be seen as being complete.

         In plain terms, Muslim leaders have no bargaining power left. THE
    DEMOLITION SQUAD HAS FINALLY DIVESTED THEM OF IT, however much most of
    us (Westernised elite) may denounce the squad. In historical terms, it
    is  immaterial  whether  or  not  Muslim leaders acquiesce in some so-
    called decisions of the government; for in reality, THE GOVERNMENT  IS
    PARALYSED and unlikely to regain much room for manoeuvre.

         It would still be idealistic  to  expect  Muslims  to  "withdraw"
    their  claim to the site. But it is not wholly inconceivable that they
    can see some light, stop pressing the demand for reconstruction of the
    "mosque", in course of time allow the claim to the land in question to
    lapse, and settle for a mosque around Ayodhya.

         A couple of points may be addressed to Muslim leaders. First,  it
    is  time  they realise that THE SECULARISM-PSEUDO-SECULARISM IS ESSEN-
    TIALLY AN INTRA-HINDU AFFAIR. It is, in a sense, a  replay,  doubtless
    in  very different circumstances, of controversies between modernisers
    and traditionalists beginning in the early 19th century. When  I  made
    this point some month ago, Syed Shahabuddin wrote to me to refute this
    proposition on the plea that Muslims had a vital stake in the  outcome
    of  the  debate.  It would have been more pertinent for him to say how
    they could influence the outcome from  the  position  of  SELF-IMPOSED
    MARGINALISATION  AND OF BEING OBJECTS OF WOOING (and that too for lim-
    ited electoral purposes) THEY HAD REDUCED THEMSELVES TO. 

    _U_n_r_e_a_s_o_n_a_b_l_e

         It would appear reasonable to think that this point did not  even
    occur  to  him. For, I have yet to meet a Muslim who has realised that
    the description, or treatment, of his community as a  "vote  bank"  is
    insulting.  Similarly,  IT IS NOT EASY TO FIND MANY MUSLIMS WHO RECOG-
    NISE THAT INDIAN NATIONALISM HAS TO BE ROOTED IN THE HINDU  ETHOS  and
    those who deny this self-evident proposition are ignoring the dramatic
    change that has taken place in  the  Indian  scene  in  recent  years,
    partly as a result of the VHP's campaign over Ram Janma Bhoomi.

         Secondly, their own experience in a number  of  riots  in  recent
    years should convince them that they need the goodwill of Hindus which
    the Congress, decrepit in much of North India, the two communist  par-
    ties,  virtually non-existent beyond West Bengal and Kerala, the vari-
    ous Janata Dals, centered on individuals preoccupied with  themselves,
    can no longer assure for them.

         In the hot house atmosphere of New Delhi and South Delhi, a  dif-
    ferent  world  even  from the old city, certain attitudes and postures
    prosper. Elsewhere, the reality is different. LOCATED IN NEW DELHI THE
    UNION GOVERNMENT HAS BECOME A PRISONER OF THIS MAKE-BELIEVE WORLD.
    
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