Goddess Speak: Where Are We Headed To With Our ‘Ram Rajya’ ?

As we know, the first thing Lord Sri Ram had asked from Sita, after rescuing her from her abductor, is to go through the ‘Agni Pareeksha’. A human being asked to enter a burning pyre and let the fire decide whether she was chaste or not. That is science, justice and logic for you! Just one of the many instances of a warped sense of justice, logic and science in King Ram’s reign- ‘Ram Rajya’!

Past or The Future

Strangely, after more than 2000 years since Ramayan, we are again going back to the same sort of judicial, scientific and logical sense in our present day country. And it is building up magnificently indeed! The question is, have Indians suddenly lost it in a stroke of blinding revelation? Or is this a concerted assertion that science, logic and justice will not work in this country because we are raising mobs of illiterate fanatics to rule and control this nation? Are we not going the same way as what is called ‘Islamic terrorism’? The growing spate of gang rapes, atrocities against women and children, casteist discrimination, crimes against dalits, mob lynchings, mindless murders, all in the name of religion, point in the same direction.

Counter Accusations on the Go

The chilling pictures and videos of the mentally challenged Otera Bibi being lynched publicly on accusations of child trafficking, murder of 8 year old Amerun, for stealing fruits from an orchard, harassment and lynching of Muslim people in the name of ‘Gau Raksha’ are instances of going back to history in a very nasty way. And every time these are condemned, the rebuff is that ‘they’ did it to Hindus during partition and of course Aurangzeb did it too! Yes, absolutely sane and educated people do come up with this kind of arguments to defend crimes and lawlessness! This tactic of going back to history and counter-accusing the other side is very common in religion and politics as if one wrong justifies the other.

New Laws for New India

The North of India has been notorious for its misogynistic and casteist culture and attitude. Now, with this Hindu Rashtra rhetoric, this misogynist and discriminatory trend is accruing strong religious sanction. The anti-Romeo squads, honor killings, religious gurus lecturing the parliament about law making, appointment of decidedly religious entities into high government offices, creating a huge issue out of cow-slaughter, active propaganda against minority communities and secular thought are all pointing to a very dismal and destructive time ahead.

No Solution. More Atrocities

In the midst of this outrage, I see the protest of the Muslim women of the village, standing up against government officials, protesting 16-year-old Junaid’s mob lynching to be as important as the #notinmyname protests. Infact I consider the former more formidable because of the odds against the protestors are far more dangerous than against the participants of the #notinname protests. But both essentially have the same root cause- ‘atrocities are becoming unbearable.’ Unfortunately, there are no ready-made solutions for social problems. Everything is subject to trial and error. But this awakening of the masses against mobs was utterly necessary in face of the inaction of the government and the relevant authorities.

The Golden Future

If the idea of Ram Rajya is so terrible, then we shudder at the thought of the actual reign of the proverbial ‘justice’. In fact, we seriously want to know what is so tempting about Ram Rajya. Rather, Ravan’s Lanka was made of gold, as far as we know!