Thursday, June 16, 2011

Ayodhya Dispute : God had a different plan.

So finally we have the famous Ayodhya Verdict, which states that "the 2.77 acres (1.12 ha) of Ayodhya land be divided into 3 parts, with 1/3 going to the Ram Lalla or Infant Lord Rama represented by the Hindu Maha Sabha for the construction of the Ram temple, 1/3 going to the Islamic Sunni Waqf Board and the remaining 1/3 going to a Hindu religious denomination Nirmohi Akhara."

The Hindus believe that the spot where the mosque was build was the birthplace of Lord Rama, thus the land belongs to them. There is no proof about it except for the fact that a historical survey by Jesuit priest Joseph Tieffenthaler recorded Hindus worshiping and celebrating Ramanavami at the site of the mosque. It may or may not be Rama's birthplace, but definitely, there was a Hindu temple in that site before Mir Baki Khan built the Babri Masjid in 1528.

Bible says that everything happens for a reason. If there is God, and he is running this whole universe, then the construction of Babri Masjid had a reason too. According to British sources, Hindus and Muslims from the Faizabad area worshiped together in the Babri Mosque complex in the 19th century until about 1855.  P. Carnegy wrote in 1870: "It is said that up to that time, the Hindus and Mohamedans alike used to worship in the mosque-temple. Since the British rule, a railing has been put up to prevent dispute, within which, in the mosque, the Mohamedans pray, while outside the fence the Hindus have raised a platform on which they make their offerings."

Now, what does this imply? During the 19th century, the Indian independence struggle was taking shape and it is God's first hint to us that He wanted us to be united and fight for the country. God chose the birthplace of Lord Rama (a holy land) for a mosque and basically wanted the two most powerful religious groups in India to worship him together and live together. But, we interpreted it differently as an attack on our pride.

In India, religion and politics are like brothers, you just can't separate them. From Ashoka to Akbar, every ancient popular ruler was deeply spiritual and it had an impact on his government. But in this present time, religion is just misused for political dominance. The Babri Masjid issue was nothing but an excuse.