We had been hit last week by a raging controversy over the Sethu Samudram project and like all controversies this one too will die down - it already has become less important than the issue of the next Indian captain. But at the root of this controversy there is a greater issue and many more questions.
The entire Sethu Samudram Project can be looked in two ways. The very basic question that started it all off was whether or not the project would be sustainable - economically, ecologically and on a minor note destruction of history and faith. This led the Govt. of India to file an affidavit in the Supreme Court not only denying the fact that the bridge was man made (i.e. by Ram) but questioned the very existence of Ram which triggered off the whole controversy.
There is no doubt at all that India today is a minority appeasing country with a highly accommodating (maybe spineless/why should I be bothered?) majority. Be it caste or religion in India it is the minority that yields votes and hence wields power. A paradox - but India has forever been a land of paradoxes. Still on rare occasions that dormant majority raises its head and this time, like in the case of OBC reservations, the Govt. has gone too far. No matter what, never push a community's goodness and faith too far. The modern Hindu may not know the Ramayana, may not visit temples, may not even believe in God but still Ram is a part of his history & his faith. To question the identity of the individual on whom countless festivals are celebrated, people named and whose name was the last word on the lips of India's greatest secularist - Gandhi is nothing short of blasphemy. You may be agnostic or an atheist but don't you dare deny the God of 800 million Indians. Scientific proofs are fine till one extent but one doesn't have to prove one's faith and Indians need no science to prove the existence of our Ram. In fact, as Barkha Dutt wrote in her column in HT, the modern Indian is quite comfortable co-existing with both faith and science.
Talking of the media, the coverage and editorials of this issue has been quite fairly dealt with. The Govt. surely deserves all the stick it is getting for trying to push forward such a baseless argument. The Dravidian establishment in the south is still adamant that the Govt. go ahead with the project just to spite the country's Hindus and their faith. Even if the project is given the green signal there are still many options to be looked at. There are multiple paths possible so the question arises as to why this one which would hurt the faith of so many people be chosen. There are alternatives and so if the Govt. still chooses to pursue its line of science over faith, can it not humour the sentiments of these 800 million Indians? Would it have acted in the same manner if the faith in question were Islam or Christianity?
Right now the Govt. is busy passing the buck trying to anoint a sacrificial goat but in the future whatever decisions they make, they better consider the sentiments of the majority. They would do well to remember the saying 'Let sleeping dogs lie'. You just don't want to push the country into turmoil because no matter what no entity can deny us our Ram, our faith and our illustrious culture and history. The world is realizing the glory of the same, it's time we learned to value our past.
The entire Sethu Samudram Project can be looked in two ways. The very basic question that started it all off was whether or not the project would be sustainable - economically, ecologically and on a minor note destruction of history and faith. This led the Govt. of India to file an affidavit in the Supreme Court not only denying the fact that the bridge was man made (i.e. by Ram) but questioned the very existence of Ram which triggered off the whole controversy.
There is no doubt at all that India today is a minority appeasing country with a highly accommodating (maybe spineless/why should I be bothered?) majority. Be it caste or religion in India it is the minority that yields votes and hence wields power. A paradox - but India has forever been a land of paradoxes. Still on rare occasions that dormant majority raises its head and this time, like in the case of OBC reservations, the Govt. has gone too far. No matter what, never push a community's goodness and faith too far. The modern Hindu may not know the Ramayana, may not visit temples, may not even believe in God but still Ram is a part of his history & his faith. To question the identity of the individual on whom countless festivals are celebrated, people named and whose name was the last word on the lips of India's greatest secularist - Gandhi is nothing short of blasphemy. You may be agnostic or an atheist but don't you dare deny the God of 800 million Indians. Scientific proofs are fine till one extent but one doesn't have to prove one's faith and Indians need no science to prove the existence of our Ram. In fact, as Barkha Dutt wrote in her column in HT, the modern Indian is quite comfortable co-existing with both faith and science.
Talking of the media, the coverage and editorials of this issue has been quite fairly dealt with. The Govt. surely deserves all the stick it is getting for trying to push forward such a baseless argument. The Dravidian establishment in the south is still adamant that the Govt. go ahead with the project just to spite the country's Hindus and their faith. Even if the project is given the green signal there are still many options to be looked at. There are multiple paths possible so the question arises as to why this one which would hurt the faith of so many people be chosen. There are alternatives and so if the Govt. still chooses to pursue its line of science over faith, can it not humour the sentiments of these 800 million Indians? Would it have acted in the same manner if the faith in question were Islam or Christianity?
Right now the Govt. is busy passing the buck trying to anoint a sacrificial goat but in the future whatever decisions they make, they better consider the sentiments of the majority. They would do well to remember the saying 'Let sleeping dogs lie'. You just don't want to push the country into turmoil because no matter what no entity can deny us our Ram, our faith and our illustrious culture and history. The world is realizing the glory of the same, it's time we learned to value our past.
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