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When Sri Ram returns to Ayodhya after five hundred years.

 When India will have a real tryst with history when Sri Ram Lala temple in Ayodhya will be inaugurated by the Prime Minister Modi on 22nd of January, 2024, who, proving himself as the harbinger of the new dawn, paved the way for its reconstruction, with fewest of few believing that it could ever be manifest in all its grandeur.

The grand Ram Lala temple at Ayodhya, in all its resplendence.

Vivekanand Jha, Ranchi. 22nd January, 2024 is the red lettered day for India. It is, in fact, the most auspicious day for the independent, as well as the colonial, India, for the nation having attained its independence from the colonial yoke, continued to remain the prisoner of its inglorious past: The soul of the nation, Maryada Purushottam, Sri Ram stood incarcerated in His own land of birth; the Sanctum Sanctorum of Hindus, notwithstanding the freedom attained from the colonial rule, could hardly free the nation’s soul from the captivity: The trappings of the invader Babur continued to mock the national sovereignty when its own soul continued to scorch under the repressive regimen of constitutional proprieties; the modern process of constitutionality, far from leveraging the release of the deity of Sri Ram, which even though it eventually did, from the superimposed structure of the invader’s imprimatur in Ayodhya, sought to perpetuate the prolongation of legal and constitutional validity of the claim of the majority community about the legitimacy of the very raison d’etre of Sri Ram. Small wonder then when the people of India, especially Hindus, had almost lost even the remnants of hope of liberating the Ram Lala in Ayodhya, the Modi magic happened: The captivity of Ram Lala, which appeared to be an eternal imprication for Hindus, almost appeared to have hit the cul-de-sac, suddenly by the grace of divine, took the tangible shape of a new reality: The resplendent path towards ushering in the construction of Ram Lala temple ensued with the order of the apex court, where even the dogs refused to bark, especially when the blood bath of river was threatened to have been unleashed if Ram Lala temple was ever constructed, presumably where Babri Masjid purportedly existed in Ayodhya. Paradoxically, such an irony of ironies could only exist in this land of Sanatanis which mischievously was sought to be converted into no man’s land under the evil design of the British educated ruling class which condescendingly spat upon their own heritage while basking themselves in the borrowed colonial heritage. Regrettably, the nation of Hindus, over decades, resembled the land for one and all, excepting that of the aboriginals, Hindus, where the latter continued to be treated as pariah even while being the primary and the principal stakeholders of this country.

The land of Sanatanis appears to have had its tryst with history when the grand Ram Lala temple stands as the living witness of the civilisational glory of Bharatvarsha.

Ironically, India celebrated Diwali every year with aplomb; the vast majority of Hindus, while blissfully celebrating Sri Ram’s victory over the evil Ravan, while being little disconcerted by the outrageous fact that their very iconic god whose victory they were celebrating year after year, disgracefully remained in captivity; He, in fact, desperately sought release from the prison of an invader’s imprimatur. Indeed the global community mocked at Hindus’ pitiful subjugation in their own country to the whimsicality of the minority; the arbitrary and dubious conduct of the politicians in manipulating the sentiments of Hindus by assuring them that sometime in the future the door to Ram Lala temple will be opened for the larger humanity. Significantly, it was whipping the passion of Hindus, in the name of Sri Ram, where even the distinct possibility of liberating the deity inside the mosque, remained a distant dream; in fact, a fatigue syndrom had come to beset Hindus: They were disillusioned to the extent that Ram Lala temple was only a carrot which was dangled before them, but the reality of the temple materialising there seldom existed. However, the prayer of millions to catch a glimpse of Ram Lala in the place of His birth; the real celebration of Diwali, in the wake of liberation of Sri Ram, would dawn in the beginning of 2024, was a historic occasion for Sanatanis to blow the conch of triumphalism, for the liberation of Sri Ram in his own land of birth, was nothing short of a historic victory for Sanatanis after five hundred years when an invader, descrating our sacred land, sought to capture the soul of the nation by destroying the temple of Sri Ram at Ayodhya and superimposed the structure of mosque as the severest humiliation to Sanatanis.

But then, India is the land of Avatarhood. When Hinduism was passing through its biggest existential crisis during Mughal era, when the Punya Bhoomie of Sanatanis had witnessed the biggest upheaval of persecution of sword which became a potent instrument of conversion of Sanatanis into Muslims, there arose the great Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to protect and preserve Hindus from extinction. Hindavi Swaraj, the vision of Chhatrapati Shivaji, was the tool to keep Hindustan as the eternal land of Hindus. In the post- independence phase, the history being molested by those who were credited to write it, unscrupulously sought to depict the great Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj as the ‘Mountain rat’ simply because his swordmanship was the shield for the preservation of Hindu race. Irfan Habib, the historian, who depicted Chhatrapati Shivaji in such poor light, continued to be treated as a blue eyed boy of Sonia- Manmohan regime. Significantly, India, which had lost all its hope of liberating Ram Lala from Ayodhya, gained traction, with the advent of Narendra Damodardas Modi in Delhi Durbar in 2014. Unequivocally, it would seldom be a hyperbole to say that India became independent not in the year 1947 but in the year 2014–even the Padma Shri Rajeshwarjee, from Benaras, appears to believe so. Among many pleasant changes, which ought to have been set in motion, ever since 1947, significantly started gaining a tangible shape only after Narendra Modi entered the Delhi Durbar. Sundry such pioneering initiatives, apart from the historic liberation of Sri Ram Lala temple, was the abrogation of Article 370, the audacious and bold move to stand in solidarity with Israel in its ongoing war with Hamas, the abolition of triple talaaq, were certain formidable steps which reinforced a robust sense of belief in India’s bold and decisive leadership after seven decades of its independence.

Indeed 22nd January is the historic occasion for the nation when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the grand Ram Lala temple at Ayodhya. In fact, it will be the resplendent occasion when the Sanatanis across the world will feel proud of their moorings, their rich heritage. The civilisational glory of Sanatan civilisation which was so prolifically showcased at the World Parliament of Religions, way back in 1893 by Swami Vivekananda, will be revisited on 22nd of January when present will have a tryst with its past; when the glory of twenty first century will seek to wash off the opprobrium of almost five hundred years of our disgraceful subjugation and colonisation. The uplifted Hindus can proclaim in resounding voice, ‘ Yes, we have liberated our Sanctum Sanctorum from the clutches of an invader who descrated our soul and sought to define our civilisational moorings. A Diwali of unprecedented scale and magnitude is in the offing; the millions of wicks which was lit in the Ram Lala temple in Ayodhya, will be further burnished by all the incremental luminosity when humanity as a whole will celebrate the glorification of Ram Lala temple in Ayodhya, for none ever sought to script the glory of human life as Lord Sri Ram sought to script through his own earthly life which had an admixture of happiness, sorrow, joy, renunciation and, finally, a reunion with family members. It is this glorious life which had an apparent stigma of captivity in His own birth place, which 22nd January, 2024 will seek to obliterate once and for all. It is this historic occasion which is the cause for cheers and celebration for humanity. In fact, the illumination of national consciousness with the establishment of Sri Ram at Ayodhya , His birthplace, the place of worship for one and all.

Vivekanand Jha, author of Delhi Beckons: RaGa for NaMo, 56 Inches and The Making of Narendra Modi, Unmaking of Jawaharlal.

Vivekanand Jha is an author of Narendra Damodardas Modi: No More Apologist.
He is an Author, Academician and a Public Intellectual.

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