History is slippery

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Editorial

Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat has expressed his indignation over Gyanvapi Mosque row conveniently being turned into a hate mongering issue by television channels and social media platforms with the help of intellectually deficient people.

‘Har Masjid mein Shivling kyun dekhna (why Shivling be looked into each mosque),” Bhagwat told a meeting of the RSS official in Nagpur on Thursday.

To be fair to the RSS chief, it must be stated that he has been consistent in his views, that the organisation had taken part in the Ramjanmabhoomi movement under specific context and circumstances, a first and the last.

At the under-construction headquarters of the RSS in New Delhi, Bhagwat a day after the Supreme Court’s Ayodhya verdict had articulated his views in a speech to a gathering of the press persons and the functionaries of the organisation on the contentious temple versus mosque rows.

But Bhagwat’s voice isn’t that powerful in the national discourse that can take the poison out of the air.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, heading the government at the Centre and also being the leader of the Lok Sabha, the House of the elected representatives of the people, has more impactful voice than Bhagwat. He does speak on such contentious, polarising issues, but has often been found to be late in the day.

Modi speaks of taking India to the stage of USD 5 trillion economy. He’s most sought after in the world comity. He’s articulating the case of India as an alternative to China in the making of the resilient global supply chain. That would be possible if India hits the international headlines for socio-economic progress, and not social divisiveness. He must be heard move as the voice in support of an inclusive society.

Bhagwat has rightly said that people of India, Hindu or Muslims, have common ancestry, and their choice of worship is a private matter.

It must be recalled that the RSS had taken an initiative ahead of the Supreme Court’s Ayodhya verdict for conversations with the intellectual leaders of the Muslim community. That exercise, with first meeting taking place at the residence of the Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, has gone off-track.

The Gyanvapi Mosque row is not new, for litigations have been going on for ages. The judiciary has to decide the matter and its verdict should be acceptable to all the parties.

In the meantime, the government and the local administrations need to study the clauses of the information and broadcasting, besides the Indian Penal Code, to crackdown against the television channels and the social media platforms for hosting and promoting hate.

Hindus, Muslims and others are constituents of Indian culture. History is slippery, for perfections cannot be found in incidents of distant past.