Sunday 10 November 2019

THE AYODHYA JUDGEMENT

The Temple Mount, with the Al-Aqsa Compound,In Jerusalem, is the Most Holy place both in Judaism and Christianity and the third most Holy place in Islam. What Mecca is to the Muslims, The Temple Mount is to the Jews. The Temple was constructed twice and each time destroyed subsequently by an occupying force; the last in 70 AD by the Romans, when the Christianity was taking shape, under severe oppression and persecution by the Romans.

With the advent of Islam and its subsequent conquests, the Islamic Caliphate changed the complexion of the entire mount, constructing Al-Aqsa Mosque, two domes, (One of them in the centre of the compound, where the twice destroyed Jewish temple once stood) and minarets, just 600 yrs before, making it into the third most revered place in Islam, a place from where, as per them, Prophet Mohammad ascended to Heaven.
It is a classic case of clash of not only three religions, which rose up in three points in time, but also a severe clash of three civilizations, one older than the other.

And yet, today, in a Jewish country, governed by a highly conservative Govt, majoritarianism has been voluntarily dis-favoured. Organised prayer is prohibited for any one but a Muslim group. Only individual prayers on the Western Wal;, I have myself stood next a Rabi and prayed for the repose of the soul of my beloved departed wife, who couldn't make it there in her life time. There are 11 gates to the Mount, 10 of which are reserved for Muslims. 


This is the compromise a die hard Jewish state had to make, to convert a place of perennial tri-religious conflict, into a show piece, as a heaven of peace, for the World to see and emulate, which no one, but a fanatic, wants disturbed.
India is still a secular country, enshrined in the Constitution of our Country; a constitution, which every functionary, in each of governance arms, is pledged to uphold. We bray about Bharat being the leader in the entire civilized world form time immemorial and yet, we could not even follow a good example.


This judgement of the HSCI, may be the final push for our secularist Country to plunge in to the abyss of Majoritarian Hindu Rashtra of the Parivar brand
The million dollar question we all must ask ourselves is, "Have we crossed the Rubicon?"