Omkar Dattatray
Celebration of Lord Ram’s consecration and inauguration of grand temple dedicated to Ram Lalla is good and understandable .Hindus have every right to celebrated the historical occasion as it is after a long gap of 500 years that Lord Ram temple has been built and Ram Lalla will be kept in the sanctum sanctorum of the magnificent temple and the Hindu faith is associated with the celebrations .It is natural that the majority community of India feels proud about the consecration of Ram Lalla and the inauguration of the Ram temple .However there is going on petty politics about the grand event and the political parties without any exception are doing politics over it ,which is unacceptable and is harmful for the country and equal harmful and dangerous is the aggressive celebration of the consecration of Lord Ram and the inauguration of the Ram temple .But aggressive celebration is not needed as the great fanfare over the celebration of Ram temple will result into hullabaloo from the Muslim community as they are less tolerant .Thus the aggressive celebration may lead to further divide in the volatile society and in our diverse country .It will also broaden the gap between Hindus and Muslims and pit one community against other .Therefore while celebrating the grand occasion ,it should also be kept in mind that such celebrations should not lead into Hindu -Muslin tussle and affect the secularism of the country which is our big asset .Even Lord Ram besides being the incarnation of Lord Vishnu was an ideal king as well and he never differentiated between the communities and therefore as his followers ,it is our religious ,moral and constitutional duty to avoid doing anything which has the potential of creating communal tension in the diverse society .We should maintain the doctrine of unity in diversity at all costs and thus should not indulge in creating communal divide in the country .Lord Ram is the cultural ,national as well as religious and spiritual icon of India and the people of the country will not tolerate that Ram is politicized and made a thing of trade and instead they would like that the people should revere ,respect and honor everything connected with Lord Ram who is the essence and very breath and soul of India .It should be appreciated that Ram is not politicized and both the treasury benches and the opposition parties should not eclipse the real issues concerning the people and do petty politics on Lord Ram who is the sign and symbol of Indian cultural heritage and legacy .The people of the country are by and large sagacious enough to distinguish between what is good and bad and they will isolate those who trade in the name of Ram and do vote bank politics on Bhagwan Ram .Thus people of this country are wise enough to distinguish between doing politics on Ram and respecting and revering the cultural and national icon Ram. Therefore while celebrating the consecration of Lord Ram and the inauguration of the magnificent temple dedicated to Lord Ram should not indulge in aggressive celebration of the historical and cultural and national occasion and event as to destroy the most wanted secularism and communal harmony .Thus as the true citizens of India we should avoid the superficial issues and concentrate on the real and mundane issues concerning people and as for as possible avoid doing politics on Lord Ram .Ram is the life and breath of India and her people accord required and due importance to Ram and everything for which he stood .The life and teachings of Lord Ram are needed by the people and these are a source of great inspiration to all Indians irrespective of religion and caste .The people of the country will celebrate the historical and cultural event with dedication and devotion to Ram and they should celebrated this great occasion of consecration and inauguration of Ram temple with sobriety and should not give a political color to the event and instead to celebrate it so that the Ram temple issue will be solved for all times to come .Therefore while celebrating the inauguration and consecration of the historical event ,it should be ensured that the celebrations should not led to the division in our highly volatile society and instead bridge the gap between the different sections of the society .Thus this historical event and occasion should be celebrated with most humility and with sobriety so that secularism ,pluralism and communal amity and harmony is not only kept intact but it should result in furtherance of inter faith harmony ,secularism and tolerance .The Ram consecration and inauguration issue should not be hijacked by any political party as it is not a political issue but a cultural issue through and through and so no political party should make it a political issue and doing so will definitely backfire .At the same time all the political parties both saffronites and so called secularists should play a positive role and thus celebrate the grand and great occasion with unison and no political party should try to steal the show and take credit for the construction of Ram temple .The shrewd voters of our electoral democracy know it well who created impediments in the construction of Ram temple and which party facilitated the construction of the grand Ram temple and this will definitely find eco at the time of general elections which are coming nearer and will be held in April/May 2024.Thus while celebrating the national and cultural event of consecration of Lord Ram and the inauguration ceremony the celebrations should not be stretched too far as to invite hullaballoo in the society which is very volatile .So the grand celebrations of the inauguration should not create communal division in the country and instead these celebrations should unify all Indians irrespective of religion and faith .Therefore it is the bounden duty of the Ram devotees to further communal amity and not to do anything which will weaken the secular and plural fabric of India .The minorities of the country should appreciate the fact that Ram is not only of Hindus but he belongs to all humanity and therefore all should contribute in the inauguration ceremony of Ram temple and Pran Pritishta of Ram Lalla and the Ram temple issue should be solved for.In short the grand celebration of the consecration and inauguration should unite the Indians and not disunite the people.
(The author is a columnist,social and KP activist).