Ramachandra Cave 
I have been an admirer of the historian and biographer Rajmohan Gandhi for many years. One is that he has written several books and the other is that he has stood firm on his commitment to democracy and pluralism. During the Emergency, he edited the weekly magazine ‘Himmat’ which was one of the few magazines that dared to portray that atmosphere of fear and terror. After that, for many decades, Rajmohan did many painstaking research studies on modern India, including Vallabhbhai Patel and C. Biographies of Rajagopalachari were also included. Even while performing these great works of scholarship, he continued to participate in public debates by writing such columns in newspapers which were considered exceptional in terms of detail and logic.
I thought that I had understood Rajmohan Gandhi’s modus operandi, but recently a wise friend of mine drew my attention to a remark made by him (Rajmohan) which I had never noticed before. He made this speech in September 1991 while being a member of the Rajya Sabha for some time. Rajmohan’s comments are very relevant in the present state of the Republic of India.
Rajmohan was speaking while participating in the debate on the bill regarding places of worship. This bill was brought so that ‘the basic form of any religious place should not be allowed to be changed and whatever form of any place of worship it had on 15th August 1947 should be retained.’ However, it exempted the site in Ayodhya where the Babri Masjid stood and which many Hindus believed was the birthplace of Lord Rama.
At that time there was a Congress government at the centre. The bill regarding places of worship was passed by the Lok Sabha. However, the BJP opposed it and argued that the bill violated the principles of federalism and that state governments should be free to take any decision regarding religious places under their control. After this, it was to be debated in the lower house of the Parliament.
Rajmohan, who was a member of the Janata Dal, opened the debate in the Rajya Sabha. Citing his deep understanding of India’s past, he warned of the dangers of regurgitating old wounds in today’s times. At the very beginning he recalled the catastrophe in the ‘Mahabharata’, how the spirit of revenge had swallowed millions of lives. Rajmohan others have said, “The lesson of the Mahabharata has been echoed for centuries that those who seek to right the wrongs of history in the spirit of revenge can only bring about more destruction.”
Although Rajmohan was otherwise in the opposition, he supported the bill on places of worship. Some members of the BJP termed the bill as anti-Hindu; About whom Rajmohan said that ‘their speech is the speech of a new separatism on our land.’ It calls itself the new nationalism, but in reality it is the new separatism. This is Hindu separatism. This is the tragedy of Hinduism and hidden apocalypticism or reincarnationism. I am sure that those who support it are committed to the Hindu cause but their eyes and emotions are blindfolded by doubts. They want to establish Hindu Pakistan, Hindu Saudi Arabia here in India.’
Rajmohan Gandhi warned those opposed to the bill that ‘you may get more or less political gain by rekindling old battles, but it will create new meanings. There will be a desire to right new wrongs of ancient times and dozens of struggles to right ancient wrongs may start in India….’ He pointed out by commenting that ‘when we want to exchange the feeling of Hindu pride and Hindu pride in votes or cash, power of intimidation or guns, then we will become an excuse to tarnish the Hindu name.’
Ending his speech, Rajmohan urged the Bharatiya Janata Party and its supporters to see the issue in its proper perspective and understand the spirit with which this bill has been brought in the House. “Let’s take a national pledge: what has happened so far is done, but nothing more from the future.” Of course, there will continue to be disputes, but let’s avoid violent confrontations and together we look to the future and the present and not just to the past.’
Rajmohan’s wise words need to be heard again today when the Bill on places of worship has been slammed by a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. In August 2021, some Hindus in Varanasi claimed that they had the right to worship at the Gyanvapi Masjid on the grounds that it contained fragments of some ancient Hindu idols. First a local court and then the Allahabad High Court allowed the survey to be conducted. An appeal was filed against it in the Supreme Court in May 2022. The then Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said that the 1991 Bill did not prohibit inquiry into the religious character of a place. In other words, if local courts and judges want to encourage the righting of historical wrongs (whether real or imagined) they are free to do so.
As Harsh Mandir has pointed out, Chief Justice Chandrachud’s remarks ‘gave the civil judge in Sambhal the freedom to issue an order which ultimately led to the death of six men’. This opened the way for what this Supreme Court watcher (Harsh Mandir) has described as posing ‘broad challenges to the religious character of places of worship’ in the wake of the Gyanvapi case (these challenges are magnified by the fact that the BJP-ruled Judges of the lower courts in the states, especially, have been living in an atmosphere of Hindutva bullying and have been called upon every time to interpret the law reasonably or without fear or prejudice. Cannot be trusted.
As I was finalizing this article, the Supreme Court began hearing the latest challenge to the Places of Worship Act. However, apart from what is happening in the courts, the current broader political environment also has to turn us back to Rajmohan Gandhi’s warnings of 1991. Consider the election campaigns run by the ruling BJP this year, which repeatedly belittled and denigrated Indian Muslims.
During the first tenure of the NDA between 1998 and 2004, the party’s top leaders did not openly express hatred and bigotry. It is also true that LK Advani’s Rath Yatra of 1990 led to bloodshed – for which at least this writer can never forgive him – but as Home Minister between 1998 and 2004 he (be it strategically or otherwise) in other words) restrained their language in public. The rest of the cabinet ministers also did the same and so did the Prime Minister.
During the first tenure of the NDA, there were of course such persons in the wider ‘Sangh Parivar’ who wanted to demonstrate their Hinduism by becoming anti-Muslim. Among them were some members of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and some later MPs. Now, apart from Hindus, the most powerful politicians of the country are also among those who define their Hinduism by expressing their hatred towards Indians. Along with the Union Home Minister, the Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Assam continue to belittle Indian Muslims in their speeches. The Prime Minister also sometimes expresses a strong desire to do so.
The supporters of these Hindutva dualism who hold the power can neither be reformed nor can any deliverance be possible; But for those Hindus who still want to listen and learn, I will conclude once again with the lesson that Rajmohan Gandhi drew from his teaching of the Mahabharata: ‘Those who seek revenge for the wrongs of the past. want to correct, will only bring destruction and destruction.’
E-mail: ramachandraguha@yahoo.in