Ayodhya and After:  Issues Before Hindu Society

by Koenraad Elst

Reviewed by Prof. Ramesh N. Rao

Source: http://www.indiastar.com/closepet2.htm

Ayodhya and After

Excerpt:

Elst begins this book by saying, "I am not a Hindu. And I am certainly not a Muslim. So, when I started writing my earlier book Ram Janmabhoomi vs. Babri Masjid, a Case Study in Hindu-Muslim Conflict, in the spring of 1990, I was an outsider to this conflict between Hindus and Muslims. But as I ventured deeper into the unique configuration of forces now existing in India, I saw that this was not a conflict between just any two communities. It is not just a struggle between one self-interest andanother self-interest. It is a struggle between very unequal contenders,with very unequal motives for waging this struggle at all."

This book is ambitious in scope, pungent in its criticisms, and clearly pro-Hindu, in the sense that it is a call for the resurgence of Sanatana Dharma. It is pungent, even vitriolic in its criticisms of the left/pseudo-secular combine in India that Elst feels is more to blame than the"Islamic communal leaders" for the present day conflicts, for the lack ofself-confidence among Hindus, and for the confusion that prevails in India.

In the first chapter, Elst argues that the historicity of the Rama Temple in Ayodhya can be established by weighing the variety of materials available to scholars. He posits that while Hindus did worship at the Janmabhoomi site prior to 1528, the ancient history of the temple is not what he is concerned with as much as the fact that Hindus have a genuine tradition of worshiping at that site, and therefore the place, like other sacred places, merits respect. Was the temple destroyed and a mosque constructed over it by Babar in 1528, or by Mohammed Ghori in 1194, or by any other Muslim king in between the two dates? Elst considers the point moot. He says that there is archaeological evidence to prove the existence of a Hindu temple at least since the eleventh century. The work done by prominent archaeologists like B.B. Lal supports Elst's thesis.

In the second chapter he draws an analogy between the Jerusalem Temple Mount controversy and the Ayodhya controversy and draws up the followinglist of dis-similarities: one, in Jewish theology there is a belief thatonly the Messiah, when he comes, should rebuild the Temple. No such beliefis involved in Ayodhya. Two, in Jerusalem the disputed area is a sacred place to both religions involved, whereas in Ayodhya, the Muslims have never attached religious significance to the site. Third, in Jerusalem, it is the Muslims who have been worshipping at the Temple and the Jews whowant to claim it, while in Ayodhya, it is the Hindus who have been worshipping and who are also claiming the site.

Chapters 3 to 7 lay the foundation for the rest of the book. Chapter 3 deals with history, Indian history that modern, ideologically inclined scholars have given their peculiar twist to; the next two chapters deal with the complex issue of how the Indian courts have approached the Ram Janmabhoomi controversy. And chapter 7 deals with Muslim communalists and the support that they get from both "vote-bank" politicians, interested in short-term gains, and those others who have an ideological agenda.

Summarizing all of the detailed arguments and the careful substantiation that Elst provides is difficult to do briefly, so I will go to one of the chapters that I consider seminal to the book, and that is chapter 14, which he titles "Hindu Fascism." In that chapter Elst brings to bear the kind of clear-eyed and straightforward analysis, free of jargon, free of grand theorizing, and free from the kind of convoluted and obfuscating mental gymnastics that the "progressive scholars" love to exhibit. Every grand pronouncement or fatuous claim or easy take on Indian politics and Hinduphilosophy and culture is exposed for what they are.The likes of M.J. Akbar, Abu Abraham, and Prem Shankar Jha, who hog English media space in India and mostly get away with their pontifications with rarely an eye-brow raised don't get away that easily here. Let me give an example: Abu Abraham, writing in the Times of India, on 10 December, 1990 says: "The obverse side of the coin of 'minorityism' is that the majority is held to be the victim of discrimination by the state.To indulge the minorities is automatically to discriminate against the majority. On the other hand, 'majoritarianism' cannot, in this scheme, entail discrimination against the minorities because, unlike minorityism, which is an unnatural distortion, majoritarianism is natural and healthy." Elst points out that "majoritarianism" is not a Hindu "scheme" as much as a devil-term and a straw-man constructed by the "progressives" and pseudo-secularists simply to confuse the valid and accepted rule of law--the majority gets to make policy, or those who get a majority of the votes get to govern. Also, "indulging the minorities" automatically means discriminating against the majority. The case in point that Elst highlights is that of Article 30 which allows minorities to open subsidized schools whereas the majority is denied it.

With well-chosen analogies, carefully considered examples, and clearly argued points Elst takes on all comers. He is not afraid to point out some of the weaknesses of the RSS/Hindutva stances. He is right to point out the anti-intellectual trend in the RSS (till recently) that made it easy prey for those, especially good in the use of Marxist philosophy and the English language, to beat them up and bruise them in the media and in academe. He questions the allegiance to a "land" (India) and how that might weaken the "real" Hindu philosophy/value system that is the Sanatana Dharma. He criticizes Veer Savarkar for his call to Hindus to eat beef and for his mistaken belief that eating meat would "strengthen" Hindu resolve.The RSS and the VHP clearly would argue with Elst about the importance of pitrubhumi (fatherland) and how a person is Hindu only if s/he accepts India's a divine or holy land (punyabhumi).

The book suffers somewhat from poor proofreading: locutions such as "unrespectful," "unsecular," and the lack of distinction between "economic system" and "economical system." One of the things that the clever, sophisticated left-leaning media and scholars gloat over is the rather poor command over English that the Hindutva brigade exhibit. Anyway, despite some of the carelessness in language use and the uneven copyediting, the book does not suffer seriously in its ability to convey its message. I recommend this book highly for anyone whowants to understand the dynamics in modern India. Elst, an "outsider" has done a better job than any "insider" in challenging the "official" versionsof history and the politically correct rendering of events and issues inmodern India.

Courtesy: The India Star website

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