Gurpreet Singh: Ram Navami is a time to challenge those in the BJP who have appropriated the Hindu god Ram

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      On the auspicious occasion of Ram Navami (March 25), we need to challenge those who have appropriated this important icon of the Hindu religion for divisive politics.

      Ram Navami is celebrated every year to mark the birth anniversary of Lord Ram, one of the revered gods of Hinduism.

      Ram was born to the King of Ayodhya, Dashrath and his wife, Kaushaleya. The legend holds that he was born as an incarnation of God Vishnu to destroy Ravan, a tyrannical ruler of Lanka. The ascetics had approached Vishnu to come to Earth and kill Ravan for his crimes against humanity.

      As Ram grew older, he was sent to a hermitage for education and to learn military skills. Once he was trained, he was sent to a mission to kill demons who harassed Hindu priests and frequently disrupted their sacred ceremonies in the jungles.

      During this time, he participated in a competition organized by the King of Videha to select a husband for his daughter Sita. Those who came to take the challenge were supposed to pick up the heaviest bow. The winner would be accepted as Sita's life partner. Ram won the challenge and brought Sita as his wife to Ayodhya.

      In the meantime, Dashrath decided to appoint Ram as his successor. He guided Ram to be a compassionate king who had courage to hear criticism and had great respect for the intellectual class.

      Though Ram had all qualities to become the king, his stepmother and another wife of Dashrath, Kaikayee, wanted her son Bharat to be the ruler. Dashrath had promised her a long time ago to ask for anything after she saved his life in a battlefield.

      Kaikayee thought that this was the right time to ask for something for her son. Knowing well that Ram was very popular and Bharat might have to face many challenges, she also imposed a condition that Ram should be sent to exile to ensure smooth transition of power.

      While Dashrath was in a dilemma over this, Ram decided to leave for exile for the sake of peace in Ayodhya. Both Sita and Ram's brother, Laxman, decided to go with him.

      They were expected to live in the woods for 14 years.

      However Bharat, who was away from the kingdom when all this happened, refused to accept this after returning home. He even protested against his mother and went after Ram to request him to come back and take charge of the kingdom. But Ram did not relent. He wanted to fulfill the vow made by his father, who had died by this time.

      During Ram's stay in the exile, he protected ascetics from the demons and cultivated relations with apes and tribal people.

      The battle lines were drawn between him and Ravan, when the latter abducted Sita to avenge the attack on his sister, who tried to entice Ram to marry her. This led to an argument during which Laxman severed her nose.

      Ram took the help of Hanuman, the monkey god, to find Sita, who was held captive in Lanka. As he ventured out to find her he was greeted by Shabri—a tribal woman who offered him half-eaten berries. She ate them partly to make sure that Ram would receive the sweetest ones.

      Although Laxman was reluctant to eat them, Ram accepted them without any hesitation. It was Shabri who had given him the lead to reach Hanuman and his friends, whom she believed could help him in finding Sita.

      This depicts Ram being offered berries by Shabri.

      Ram took Hanuman into his embrace and gave him due respect as a true friend, never letting him feel he was any less than him because of being a different species.

      Hanuman traced the whereabouts of Sita and they all proceeded to Lanka. This resulted into a war that brought an end of Ravan’s rule and Ram succeeded in rescuing Sita. He announced that the war he had to fight wasn’t just for Sita, but to stand up for the honour of women.  

      Throughout this period he maintained complete restraint and did not allow his army to use weapons of mass destruction or unfair means to defeat the enemy. He even gave Ravan a last chance for peaceful negotiation and the return of Sita to avoid war.

      But Ravan remained adamant and even refused to listen to similar advice from his relatives.

      During the war, when the son of Ravan died at the hands of Ram’s army, Ram decided to hand over the body respectfully to the family for the last rites. He discouraged his followers from dismembering the body to instill fear among their enemies.  

      Ram’s story therefore symbolizes love, respect, sacrifice, and justice. Unfortunately, those in power in India right now continue to use his name and imagery to spread violence and bigotry.

      The ruling Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has repeatedly used Ram as a symbol of Hindutva, which is a right-wing ideology based on the notion that India belongs to the Hindu majority and that minorities have no special rights. Not only that, the BJP had used the issue of the grand Ram temple to come to power.

      In the 1980s, the BJP launched a campaign around the Ram temple in Ayodhya, claiming that the original temple was destroyed by Islamic rulers to build a Babri mosque. Even though there is no concrete evidence that the mosque stood exactly at Ram’s birthplace, BJP supporters gathered there in December 1992 and destroyed the structure completely.

      The incident had long-term consequences. It resulted in large-scale sectarian violence and culminated in the 2002 anti-Muslim massacre in Gujarat.

      This bloodshed came after a train carrying Hindu pilgrims from the disputed site of Ayodhya caught fire, leaving more than 50 people dead. Whereas one commission of inquiry found that it was an accident, the BJP government in Gujarat under then chief minister Narendra Modi promptly blamed the tragedy on Islamic extremists.

      Some of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi's strongest supporters want him to turn India into a Hindu theocracy.

      This was followed by state-sponsored violence against innocent Muslims. Today, when Modi is prime minister of India, the Ram temple rhetoric has grown once again.

      This is in sharp contrast to what Ram stood for. While Ram had given up his kingdom for peace, the BJP has endangered the peace and harmony in the name of Ram to grab political power.

      It is pertinent to mention here that while Ram went into exile to respect the vow of his father, the BJP broke its promise to the authorities not to touch the mosque before December 1992 episode.

      Rather, the BJP supporters are behaving like the demons who disrupted the ceremonies of Hindu priests. They often stop Christians from performing prayers and continue to attack Muslims and discourage them from practising their faith fearlessly.

      Whereas Ram let Sita choose him by going through the test, BJP supporters frequently attack Hindu women who marry Muslim men out of their choice.

      Though Ram decided to go for war with Ravan for the sake of the honour of women, BJP supporters keep threatening their female critics of sexual violence through social media.

      Only recently, BJP leaders campaigned for their Hindu supporters in Kathua who had been arrested for the rape of an eight-year-old Muslim girl. This is not even to mention the mass rapes of Muslim women during the 2002 violence.

      While Ram took embraced Hanuman and his army of the apes and tribal people, like Shabri, BJP supporters openly advocate for a caste system that breeds untouchability.

      Recently, the officials in the state of Uttar Pradesh asked so-called low caste people to take a bath before meeting the BJP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who is determined to build a Ram temple in Ayodhya.

      Ram decided to use restraint and advocated against the use of destructive weapons, but the BJP government in the past triggered nuclear tests.

      By patronizing police officers involved in extra-judicial killings of suspected Muslim militants and Maoist insurgents, the BJP has displayed that it doesn't really care for the principles Ram stood for.

      Some BJP supporters chortled with glee over the assassination of Indian journalist Gauri Lankesh.

      In comparison to the respect Ram gave to the remains of Ravan’s son, the BJP vehemently has opposed the demand of the family of a slain Kashmiri activist, Afzal Guru, to hand over his body for a dignified burial.

      Guru was accused of a militant attack on the Indian parliament. He was discreetly hanged and his body was buried in prison. The BJP made a big fuss about this simple demand.

      Likewise, BJP supporters rejoiced over the murder of Gauri Lankesh, a journalist who was assassinated last year. Lankesh was a critic of the Hindu Right.

      From this plain and simple narrative, one can see that the actions of BJP leaders hardly match what Ram did in his life. If there is any closeness between the BJP and the icons in Ram’s legend, it is mainly between Ravan and the BJP.

      Much like Ravan, the BJP government is not willing to listen to any criticism: any voice of dissent is suppressed through violence and critics are frequently dubbed as antinationals.

      Delhi University professor G.S. Saibaba remains in jail after expressing support for poor, rural Indigenous people who oppose resource-extraction projects in their communities.
      Gurpreet Singh

      Unlike Ram, who was told by his father to listen to the intellectual class, this government has been incarcerating wise men, such as Delhi University Prof. G.N. Saibaba, for standing up for the poor and marginalized.

      Saibaba, who is ninety percent disabled below waist, was given a life sentence after being accused of supporting Maoist insurgents. The BJP has hardly shown any compassion like Lord Ram for this man.

      If Ram were to be born today, he would fight the BJP government that is promoting intolerance and creating unrest in the name of Hinduism.

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