Shadow of Ayodhya over Sabarimala temple controversy?

Is it a sheer coincidence that a good number of people opposing the entry of women of all ages in Sabarimala temple were wearing saffron bands on their heads akin to those who demolished the Babri masjid 26 years ago. The devotees of Ayyappa wear black dress and band on their heads. So, who were these people wearing saffron bands? Remember in 1992 in guise of ‘karsevaks’ hundreds of trained men had entered the Babri mosque and eventually demolished it. Since then we have had a spate of communal frenzy in the country that catapulted the BJP to power.

A video circulated by a minister in Kerala quite vividly points out that the RSS organised series of meetings and asked its cadres to dress like devotees and create violence at the site of Sabrimala temple. The reports showing television journalists being heckled and beaten up remind exactly the same old modus operandi adopted in the Babri masjid demolition. The moot point is, the BJP and the RSS, its obeisant creator, wanted to use the same old tactics of vitiating the environment and spreading its communal ideology.

This is all the more substantiated by the fact that Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS chief in his Vijaydashami speech has exhorted for the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya and has vehemently opposed the decision of the SC which allowed the entry of 'reproductive age' women in Sabrimala temple. Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, keeping the secular constitution at bay, participated in the Vijaydashami shobha yatra in Gorakhpur and asked his supporters to start preparing for the construction of Ram temple. This amply justifies the concern of the people in the country who believe in the foundations of the democratic, secular constitution that the period henceforth to 2019 polls will be extremely challenging.

The duality of the RSS is not hidden; but it is also true that they are not even ashamed of it. Mohan Bhagwat has brought in the question of faith of the Hindu populace to the fore. He said that if Hindus believe that Ram was born in Ayodhaya so it is, and hence the temple must be constructed irrespective of the decision of the Supreme Court. He has recommended for an ordinance route to ensure that temple gets constructed. He has asked the government should clear the path for construction of the temple through an appropriate law. But he did not mention the 'law route for the Sabarimala deadlock. The BJP has a majority in the Lok Sabha and can easily pass a law setting aside the SC ruling; but will not do that. This could be done for the Muslim women on the 'triple talaq' issue but will not be done for Sabarimala.

The RSS’s gameplan is larger and that pertains to keep the pot burning so that the atmosphere can be vitiated and polarised on communal lines. It is easier for the RSS to exhibit that a Left government in Kerala is trying to play with the passions of the Hindu community by implementing an order of the Supreme Court which is against their faith. But the RSS hides important facts. The BJP government in Maharashtra adopted the order of the Bombay High Court in allowing the entry of women in the Shani Shingnapur temple in Pune in Maharashtra and a practice as old as 400 years old was broken. Neither the RSS nor the BJP protested there.

But why is it that the BJP opposes the entry of women in Sabrimala temple and intends to turn the wheels of history backward. The simple answer is that they do not believe in the constitution of India which brought different sections of the people irrespective of their language, customs, tradition, region, caste, religion etc. together. That is why a section of the 'right wing activists' burnt copies of the constitution recently in Delhi. It is through the interpretation of the constitution that the SC remarked that the practice of not allowing women in the temple is exclusionary and “a clear violation of the right of Hindu women to practice their religious beliefs which, in consequence, makes their fundamental right of religion under Article 25(1)a dead letter."

Remember, the RSS wants to have Manusmriti as the constitution of the country. Dr Ambedkar was humiliated and insulted during his lifetime by the RSS for proposing to bring radical changes in the society through the constitution.  It is important to reiterate here the notion that the RSS had during the formative days of India. In a letter published in the RSS mouth piece Organiser, on January 11, 1950, belittles Dr Ambedkar by drawing an analogy with ‘Lilliput. The letter states that Dr Ambedkar cannot be called the Modern Manu as it “is an instance of depicting a Lilliput as a Brobdingnag. It borders on ridicule to put Dr Ambedkar on par with the learned and god-like Manu….. ". The Manusmriti is a law-book that prescribes rules and regulations for the four varnas (Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra) as well as avarnas or the “untouchables” or the ‘chandalas’. The book bestows privileges upon the Brahmin men, which is what the RSS leadership is made of. For women, lower-castes and untouchables, there are no rights at all.