Mar 7, 2002, 09.21pm IST
MUTHUSAMY VARADARAJAN.
Whenever i come across news of violence, be it between individuals, mob factions or between countries, a nightmare usually envelops me, of a return to the days of the caveman. but scenes of the incineration of innocents at godhra and the retaliatory mass live-burning of hundreds in other parts of gujarat brought back poignant memories of the partition massacres. in extenuation, apologists among us could seek to ascribe the latter at least partially to the departing brits but who do we blame for our own millennium abel and cain act this past week? only ourselves: in a land which boasts of its sanskriti, sabhyata, and itihaas — noble words uttered from political pulpits especially at election times, what surfaced in the past week is bestiality at its best (worst?). ‘‘ishwar allah tere naam, sabko sanmathi de bhagwan’’ was mahatma gandhi’s refrain. gandhi, the father of the nation, was a son of gujarat. non-violence was the tool that he fashioned, the means he deployed with a certain optimism and relentless single-mindedness towards achieving the goal, poorna swaraj, on which every indian was united. but that was also a tool he did not hesitate to fling away instantly when the flames of violence burnt to death the entire constabulary of chauri chaura police station. gandhi called off the movement and went on a fast unto death till the nation saw the folly of its ways. how many of our self-confessed netas (leaders) shed tears of genuine grief at this kalank on the rashtra? how many went without, say, a day’s breakfast? a lonesome george is a poor substitute to the mahatma’s anguished footsteps in noakhali. what is the goal today? building a ram mandir at ayodhya. the mandir, unlike the goal of swaraj which was the goal of all indians, is by no means a goal unanimously accepted by all right-thinking indians. what are the tools now? a rath yatra, metamorphosing into a karsevak yatra and culminating on the rail tracks of the selfsame gujarat, the mahatma’s janambhoomi. but when it is a question of ram janambhoomi it is response and counter-response: violence and more violence. innocent men, women, babes-in-arms, babes in the womb consigned to the poornahuti (consecration) of a self-professed religious but actually political purpose...creating divides where (as in rajkot) there were none, deepening fissures where they existed, for one reason or another, fissures that called for filling up the dividing spaces, not for exacerbating them.... the moving words of sankshepa ramayana describing rama’s attributes come rushing to me: “satya vakyo”: he of the truthful word. the government is expected to uphold the truth and the dharma of the supreme court’s fiat but oh no, the land must be handed over forthwith to the ram brigade. “sarva bhuteshu kohitaha”: he who cares and labours for the welfare of all. but oh no, it is the welfare of the majority that counts, the rest can migrate or perish. “sadaiha priyadarshanaha”: he who reveals himself in all sweetness and light to all. oh no, he cannot be sweet to those whose religion bids them call out in supplication to another god, forgetting the majority’s own mantra “ekam sat viprah bahuda vadanti”. truth is one but the learned call it by varied names. “kshamaya prithvi samaha”: he who equals mother earth in patience and forgiveness. but oh no, in our impatience and frenzy, we shall march on, we shall build, build on travesties of fact and history, we shall not forgive perceived wrongs and sins of centuries gone by; whatever the toll of human lives, we shall build on. kamban, the author of the ramayanam in tamil, recalled the four short but epic words that rama spoke when he witnessed on the battlefield an exhausted and spent ravana, dripping with blood and gore. rama, the karunasagara (ocean of compassion) saw it fit to tell him “inru poi, nalai vaa” — go home today, return tomorrow (we shall fight again). why is it that rama bhaktas conveniently forget this sterling quality of their idol when dealing with lesser provocations? some years ago, one of the shankaracharyas asked me, ‘‘would you not have the temple built?’’ ‘‘yes, maharajji, certainly it must, in the hearts of men’’ was my instinctive and honest reply, perhaps inspired by the words of max lerner who said: “either men will learn to live like brothers, or they will die like beasts”. but as an optimist, i still hope that all of us can and will still learn to live like brothers (and sisters) in the dreamland of gandhiji — ram rajya, no less, but a rajya which is not dependent only on a mandir for sustenance.
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