Indian National Congress versus the State of India, RSS, BJP and Ors
Rahul Gandhi’s statement on the fight against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party— who have captured the country's institutions— as being a fight against the Indian State reflects B.R. Ambedkar's vision, writes S.N. Sahu.
S.N. Sahu
Published on: 20 January 2025, 07:47 am
ALMOST a year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Ram is rashtra (Ram is the State) and dev is desh (the deity is the country) while consecrating the Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22, 2024, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief, Mohan Bhagwat, made a highly preposterous statement that on that day last year asli azadi (real independence) was achieved by India.
Bhagwat did acknowledge that on August 15, 1947, India had obtained political independence but asli independence could not be achieved on that day and the country had to wait for Modi to consecrate the Ram temple. Incidentally, the temple stands at the very place where Babri mosque once stood before it was demolished in 1992 in the presence of top Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders. That act of demolition was held by the Supreme Court in its 2019 judgment as “an egregious violation of the rule of law”.
While Modi's statement identifying Ram with rashtra was an attempt to subvert the secular credentials of India to uphold the idea of a theocratic State, Bhagwat's above narrative constitutes an affront to the freedom fighters who fought for independence which India got on August 15, 1947 and the 75th anniversary of which was celebrated by the Modi regime in 2022.
How can a country get real independence by consecrating a place of worship? No one ever linked the independence of our country to the consecration of a place of worship.
Secularism upheld when Somnath temple was consecrated
Even the first President of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad, who participated in the consecration of Somnath temple in Gujarat on May 11, 1951, despite Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s advice not to do so, did not say that India’s real freedom was attained on that day in 1951.
In fact, on that occasion, Dr Prasad said, among other things, that harmony and unity among diverse faiths would deepen the culture of tolerance and acceptance and pave the way for what he called “the welfare of our nation and country and of every one of us”.
He, therefore, asserted, “This faith and conviction has impelled India to adopt the policy of secularism and to give an assurance that there shall be no discrimination on grounds of religion.”
He also flagged the point that ‘Sardar’ Vallabhbhai Patel envisioned the restoration of Somnath temple, representing the ancient faith of India, primarily to celebrate the restoration of Indian unity.
“By the grace of God,” Prasad remarked, “this dream of Sardar has been fulfilled to a certain extent” and proceeded to add, “But, it would have been realised fully only on the day when prosperity is restored to our people.”
Rajendra Prasad underlined the necessity of secularism and prosperity for our people while participating in the consecration of the Somnath temple.
