Ramaisation Of Indian Politics
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00:00 Outlook brings to you excerpts from the issue titled 'In the Name of Ram'.
00:04 It analyses the narrative of Ayodhya.
00:07 What was, what is and where will it go from here?
00:11 Ramanization of Indian Politics by Sanjay Nirupam
00:15 Sanjay Nirupam is a Congress leader and former Rajya Sabha member.
00:20 Prana Pratishtha ceremony of Ram's idol in Ayodhya has transformed the political landscape.
00:26 Following Hindu tradition is the new buzz in governance, but its foundation was laid in 1986.
00:33 Whether good, bad or ugly, the fact is that Ramanization of Indian politics seems to be at
00:40 its peak. Prana Pratishtha ceremony of Lord Ram's idol in Ayodhya has completely transformed BJP
00:47 into a Ram Bhakt party. Once considered to be a rational leader,
00:51 MAGASAY AWARD winner Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi, has officially announced
00:56 plans to organize the recitation of Sundarkand, a chapter in Ramayana, at various places in the
01:03 capital city. Veteran social leader, late Biju Patnayak's son and Chief Minister of Odisha,
01:09 Naveen Patnayak, is considered to be a secular leader as far as his political ideology is
01:14 concerned. He has announced that his government will conduct an ambitious Jagannath Puri Temple
01:20 corridor on January 17 and to begin auspiciously, he suggested the citizens of his state light
01:27 earthen lamps in their homes and blow corn shells. Constitutionally, governments in India are not
01:33 supposed to follow a particular religious tradition because we are a secular state.
01:38 But that doesn't seem to apply anymore. Following Hindu tradition is the new buzz in governance,
01:45 but its foundation was laid way back in 1986. On February 1, 1986, the Faizabad District Court
01:53 passed an order to unlock the door of a little temple in which a small idol of Lord Ram had
02:00 existed for a long time. Since the idol was situated exactly beneath the dome of Babri Masjid,
02:07 no puja was allowed there to maintain communal harmony. Hindus were agitating in a very
02:13 significant way. Litigations were on but at the level of the lower courts. The door was locked
02:20 as per the orders of the district administration. No one was allowed inside. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad,
02:26 a sister organization of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, was trying to make a bigger issue out of it.
02:32 They were organizing public meetings and rath yatras and calling it injustice against Hindus.
02:38 A lawyer associated with the VHP had filed a petition in the local court seeking to unlock the
02:44 door and allow devotees in for worship. BJP was just a six-year-old party at that time.
02:51 It won only two seats in the Lok Sabha in the 1984 general elections. Atal Bihari Bajwai was at the
02:58 helm of the affairs in the party. Under his leadership, the party had adopted Gandhian
03:03 socialism as its main political ideology. After a huge electoral setback, there was a simmering
03:10 in the party. The RSS was trying to impose its Hindutva philosophy on the party. Advani grabbed
03:17 the opportunity and after he became the party president in 1986, he immediately dumbed the
03:23 bogey of Gandhian socialism and started toying with the idea of Hindutva.
03:28 For this and more, read the latest issue of Outlook.