Wounds and hurts not transformed are always transferred”. The soon-to-conclude fight for the Lok Sabha seats has revealed again the terrible truth in this observation, and how the transferring can go on and on.
Zahiruddin Mohammad Babur, also called Babar, the founder of the Moghul Empire, built the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in the 16th century. Many Hindus believe he built the mosque on the site where Ram was born. The BJP organized the Rath Yatras across India to build Ram Temple on the site of the Masjid. The campaign to build the Temple tells the story of the hidden outrage in Hindus against the humiliation inflicted on them by Muslim conquerors down the centuries. The Masjid was eventually demolished by right-wing Hindu extremists in the Yatras during Narasimha Rao’s tenure as the Indira-Congress Prime Minister. The demolition revealed the untransformed bitterness still in many hearts that energizes Hindutva’s Hindu nationalism that easily starts to cry for revenge and honour if it is raked up for politics. What Narasimha Rao the consummate power player really knew and thought about the demolition that took place not all that far from Delhi will be known only to him and Ram and Allah. That’s a related story.
Watching on TV the “Wave” stirred up by ‘Modi the Hindutva polarizer’ calling himself Mr. Development yet igniting fear and producing a Muslim counter wave provoking a greater wave in turn from the Hindu masses, one recalls the appeal Vamuzo, who had just taken as the new Chief Minister of Nagaland, tried to make to the Muslims of India.*
One of the first initiatives VP Singh took after he became the Prime Minister was to call a conference of all the Chief Ministers of India to evolve a consensus on the crisis created by the upheaval over Babri Masjid.
The first thing Vamuzo did on reaching Delhi was to call on the Shahi Imam Bukhari of the Jama Masjid, the leading Muslim voice in the crisis at the time. The members of the powerful committee for the protection of Babri Masjid were also present with the Imam. After paying tribute to the magnificent, many facetted heritage so evident all over Delhi that Islam has bequeathed to modern India, Vamuzo said:
“Our voice and our numerical strength are insignificant in the present dispute between the two contending giants, the Hindus and the Muslims. But on behalf of my people, the Nagas, I would like to say that to countless millions of devout Hindus, Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Ram, must be what Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, is to us Christians. So we can understand what they feel. I venture therefore to humbly but urgently appeal to you to please make an inspired gesture that will touch and satisfy the hearts of the Hindus without harming the dignity and message of Islam. Indeed in doing what is right for Hindus on this issue will be strong affirmation of the true greatness of Islam. Such a generous gesture would lead to the followers of all the religions of India offering to help our Hindu brothers and sisters to build a temple for understanding, healing and true worship. In view of the rising communal tension in the country, allow me to make this fervent appeal to your Eminence for high statesmanship”.
Cutting across the palpable tension in the room and looking straight at the Muslim leaders Vamuzo spoke from his heart. Shahi Imam Bukhari listened quietly and nodded gently in response revealing the burden of history weighing on his shoulders. The editor of an Urdu paper in UP who had acted as interpreter said, as he escorted Vamuzo to his car, “I was so moved by the challenge of the appeal from the Naga people that you expressed, I found it difficult to speak. Thank you for thinking of us and trying to help us.”
It was a creative and imaginative thought projected into the crisis. Shahi Imam did not rise to the appeal. It did not change the situation. But it showed the contribution that thinking and going in the right direction can make despite our many limitations.
*“Vamuzo and the Naga Politics” by Zapra Chakhesang, 2001. NV Press, Kohima.
