News Analysis |
In a bizarre turn of events, Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) along with temple authorities at a shrine in Uttar Pradesh (UP) in India have come up with a way to keep their gods warm throughout the winter. They have appealed to the city commissioner in Faizabad, UP, to install heaters and provide quilts at the temple to protect “Ram Lala”, the statue of the Hindu god Ram, from the cold. The temple is in the disputed territory of Ayodhya where the massive 16th century Babri mosque used to be.
The VHP is an extremist nationalist right wing group that follows the ideology of Hindutva. It was formed in 1964 by members of the paramilitary extremist Hindu organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The VHP is the group responsible for the destruction of the Babri mosque. In 1984, they organized a public campaign to allow Hindu access to the Babri mosque and other Muslim places of worship.
Their claims of the Ram statue “catching a cold” are nonsensical and their demands will just be a waste of time and energy for the local government that continues to undermine the large Muslim population within it.
Once this campaign turned out to be successful they further imposed their will and by 1992 along with the support of the currently ruling BJP and their founding group RSS, their followers destroyed the 500-year-old holy Muslim landmark. They claimed the mosque was built after the demolishing of an ancient temple marking the birthplace of Ram.
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In 2017, the ruling BJP said it “will explore all possibilities within the purview of the Constitution to construct a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya”. This is a highly controversial step as Ayodhya as an area is disputed and Uttar Pradesh has a population of 38 million Muslims. Denying Muslims the right to have a mosque where one stood for 500 years is unjust.
Yogi Adityanath, the current Chief Minister of UP, has proposed the building of a giant 100-meter tall statue of the Hindu god Ram in Ayodhya near the Ram temple – Babri Masjid site. This further shows the suppression of the Muslim population in UP under the leadership of the controversial Yogi Adityanath.
The RSS, VHP and the BJP, all followers of the extremist Hindutva ideology trying to establish a Hindu Rashtra (nation) in India, are collectively trying to break the hold of the Indian Supreme Court stay order on the Babri mosque.
The recent absurd claims by the VHP that the Ram temple needs heaters and blankets seems like delay tactics to distract people from the Supreme Court hearing on 8th February. In 2010 the Allahabad High Court carved up the land where the Babri mosque stood by giving two thirds to the Hindus and one third to the Muslims. The current case the Muslims in UP are making to try and get back the land continues to get delayed.
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The RSS, VHP and the BJP, all followers of the extremist Hindutva ideology trying to establish a Hindu Rashtra (nation) in India, are collectively trying to break the hold of the Indian Supreme Court stay order on the Babri mosque. Their claims of the Ram statue “catching a cold” are nonsensical and their demands will just be a waste of time and energy for the local government that continues to undermine the large Muslim population within it.