Temple and Mosque

Define what a temple is, define a mosque to me
What do we need to build today, can anyone tell me

Of what use will be a temple
To one who spends chilling nights on roads
Of what use will be a mosque
To one on whose back is sack of heavy loads

Define what a temple is, define a mosque to me
What do we need to build today, can anyone tell me

She doesn’t know what to cook for lunch and dinner
Her husband’s purse over the days have become thinner
Gold for her are the vegetables on display
Tough its getting to see through each day


Define what a temple is, define a mosque to me
What do we need to build today, can anyone tell me

When will he get a job the question doesn’t let him sleep
In this quagmire how will he his sanity keep
Directionless he wanders, aimlessly, fruitlessly
He has to earn for depends entirely on him is his family

Define what a temple is, define a mosque to me
What do we need to build today, can anyone tell me

Unfailingly he rises each day before the sun rise
Only then to get a seat in bus his chances rise
Invisible wars in office throughout the day he fights
Only then two pricey school seats for his children he finds

Define what a temple is, define a mosque to me
What do we need to build today, can anyone tell me

Deadlines to be met, targets to be achieved
Facts and figures only to be believed
Where nights don’t count for there its day
There is sunshine, the corporate makes hay

Define what a temple is, define a mosque to me
What do we need to build today, can anyone tell me

A first day first show and there is a huge crowd
All hail the hero and they hail him loud
No one asks who is sitting besides
In entertainment no one any religious rules abides

Define what a temple is, define a mosque to me
What do we need to build today, can anyone tell me

On icy peaks they stand holding guns in their hand
Driven by ulterior aim to protect motherland
The bullet doesn’t ask their identities to them
Building an own house does matter to them

Define what a temple is, define a mosque to me
What do we need to build today, can anyone tell me

His crops ends up in flood when he waits for rain
Who understands the poor farmers pain
Ending his life burdened under loans
Countless such in agony they moan

Define what a temple is, define a mosque to me
What do we need to build today, can anyone tell me

We need more roads we need more dams
We need in country more lush green farms
We need health care we need better fare
We need the government to take more care

We do need a mosque, we do need a temple
No violence in thier names, we have had them ample!

Ram Mandir on Facebook

              
                This isn’t about politics. It is neither about preaching nor about practice. It is about being practical. Eighteen years after Babri Masjid was demolished, a thirty years year old activist then is close to fifty years and maybe has a voice but no tooth. A child born then is vying for a seat in a reputed college. And people not even ready to listen to Kalyan Singh, the then chief minister, who is failed to draw a decent crowd in his ‘Ayodhya chalo’ rally. The dynamics of the movement which witnessed the mobilisation of various forces, both constructive and destructive, has changed considerably. Instead of people carrying bricks from all over the country to build Ram Mandir at Ayodhya then, what would work today is some application on facebook like ‘donate/gift a brick for the temple’.


                   That the court is to sound its verdict on 24th of September, on a sixty year old litigation, has brought to the fore an issue that had been dormant since a long time now. Unprecedented security measures are being taken to avoid any communal disharmony. News channels in a welcome move have decided on self restraint by not playing sensitive videos of that fateful day of 6th December, 1992 (needless to say in all forms and round the clock). Religious groups involved have not yet issued inflammatory statements. And suddenly the passions that would have whipped up even on the mention of Ram Janmabhoomi seem to have died down. What has changed in all these years? Answer is too many things.

              Even though the debate of whether there was a temple over and on which the mosque was built is significant, what has become insignificant is the use of the debate to mobilise people to achieve an agenda. Adding political colour to the issue today has become difficult because vote bank politics today does not rely on playing religious card. It is the card of development, infrastructure and economics, that garners votes today in most of the constituencies, if not all. BJP the party which got associated with the issue and perhaps gained the maximum of it, did eventually realise the fact that Mandir in Ayodhya cannot provide stepping stones to Delhi. Demands of the inevitable coalition politics today sometimes (in very few occasions though) acts in a mutually beneficial way.

                The verdict is bound to upset one of the litigant and the larger group it represents. The case will then move to Supreme Court thereby automatically hitting a pause button. Communally sensitive areas might see some unfortunate action thanks to petty politics but the issue lacks the firepower anymore to kindle up larger emotions. All major parties want to steer clear of the matter. The BJP would do good in cornering the Congress government on minority appeasement issue, floundering Kashmir issue, and rising prices issue, rather than Ayodhya issue. The Sants and Qazis have nothing to gain either and have realised the fact in all these many years.

                 Disenchantment with controversial religious issues have taken place almost in entirety in uptown India and to a large extent in small town India. A youngster in Ayodhya today wishes to move to Lucknow or Delhi to land up in a decent job, rather than participating in the Mandir-Masjid issue whenever it rakes up. A software professional working in a MNC is least bothered what stands in Ayodhya. Young India today would rather click on the ‘like’ button for Mandir or Masjid at Ayodhya or better still join a virtual community ‘build a orphanage/hospital at the controversial site’, read e-paper on the verdict and post a comment on it, read couple of blogs (maybe this one included), and go about building their own dreams.