India Becomes A Hindu Rashtra

By Manuwant Choudhary

I am not sure about others...but I felt uneasy last night and could not sleep and this morning it became absolutely clear to me that India is now a Hindu Rashtra - its official - the country's High Court has given its approval.

So now we are not just a socialist country where liberals cannot contest elections but also a Hindu Rashtra where the beliefs of the majority matter and need no evidence but the beliefs of minorities need actual evidence.

At least thats what I get from the synopsis of the three-judge bench which heard the Ayodhya case.

Yes the `Allah-a-bad' judgement ignores Allah and is a bad judgement.

A court saying that Ram was born here because most Hindus think so goes against reason.

From my understanding the court could not find a clear title-holder to the said 2.7 acre land but they arriving at certain conclusions only on the basis of possession of land by warring parties is questionable.

It also suggests and encourages land-grabbers to capture land whose title may be in dispute.

So the Hanuman mandirs you see across India alongside national highways are also legal.

I am not against Ram or Hanuman.

In fact I have my own Ram temple - a temple built by my grandfather in red sandstone - but the political events in India make it clear that India has not gone the Ram way but the Pakistan way.

The current High Court judgement is straight out of a BJP manifesto and its no surprise the BJP leaders are smiling.

But this does not help India or South Asia...

My readers would note that I have been writing against India's judiciary quite frequently over the past few months and this latest judgement on Ayodhya confirms my worst fears.

Just been reading a book by eminent lawyer Fali Nariman `Before Memory Fades' where he mentions a facade at the Bombay High Court of at least six figures of justice in caricature depicting human failings in the ideal of justice with judges sitting in judgement with swords in one hand, face with bandages...with one eye shut the other open....

Mr. Nariman writes, "The facial expression is that of a person - seemingly drunk, with power, liquor or corruption (you can take your pick) - grinning away with sly satisfaction. Did the architect (and designer of those images) anticipate the decline and fall in judicial standards in course of time, or did he only portray the justice delivery system during the entire course of human history?

We shall never know!"