Opinion Ram Madhav writes: As Mission Ram Mandir concludes, let’s seek Ram Rajya
It is time that the country turns to that personal ideal of maryada of Ram, besides the ideal of Ram Rajya, which Gandhi summed up as ‘the sovereignty of the people based on pure moral authority’
In the vitiated public discourse today, we glorify Ram for offering dignity to the views of a washerman in his kingdom, yet, at the same time, don’t hesitate to troll a brilliant woman cricketer for her religious beliefs. 
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat will be in Ayodhya next week for the Dhwajaarohan ceremony — hoisting of the sacred flag in the precincts of the newly built Ram temple. Coming together for the second time in less than two years, the two leaders of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement will proclaim the conclusion of Mission Ram Temple, a five-century-long campaign that saw royal wars, street fights and court battles. As the flag rises high, it will symbolise the culmination of a saga of faith, self-respect and sacrifice.
The flag being hoisted in Ayodhya will carry symbols of Ram’s lineage that represent an enduring link between the human and the divine on the one hand, and a value system, which the medieval poet Tulsi Das described as “Raghukul reeti”.
For centuries, the mission of the people was to liberate the birthplace of Bhagwan Ram. Now that the mission has been accomplished, what next? For some, the answer could be to look for other grievances. But for many others, the road ahead would be to set the ball rolling for Mission Ram Rajya. Many leaders, including Lal Krishna Advani, who undertook the historic Rath Yatra, publicly proclaimed many times that the ultimate objective of the movement was to build Ram Rajya.
On a visit to Ayodhya as part of his Bharat Uday Yatra, Advani, as the deputy PM, said in April 2004 that Ram was not merely a religious figure but an epitome of a perfect ruler. “I have often used Ram Rajya to describe our goal of making India a developed economy and a world power by 2020,” he said, adding that the Ram Temple in Ayodhya will be a “vibrant symbol of a strong, prosperous and harmonious India”. As India continues to embark on that path, it is important to renew that commitment.
Hinduism insists that men should be “seekers”, not merely “believers”. Ram Rajya represents the seeking of a life of values that Ram personified, not merely worshipping him. Ram was a god for many. Gandhi called him his personal deity. Ram’s historicity never bothered Gandhi. What mattered was the concept of “Ram Rajya”, which essentially meant equal rights for “prince and pauper”. “Praying to God for our own protection is a sin as long as we do not protect the weak,” he told the saints of Ayodhya in February 1921, citing the example of how Ram protected Sita. There is no way to achieve Ram Rajya or Swaraj without observing this svadharma, he told them.
B R Ambedkar had a different view. Commenting on Ram’s dismissal of Sita to the forests the second time, he quipped that “there are not wanting Hindus who use this as grounds to prove that Ram was a democratic king when others could equally well say that he was a weak and cowardly monarch”. Gandhi and Ambedkar looked at the concept of Ram Rajya from their respective prisms. But both insisted on a just system where the weak are protected and human dignity is upheld.
Delivering the Ramnath Goenka Memorial Address recently, PM Modi alluded to the same, stating that not “election”, but “emotion” should drive political leadership. He emphasised that when there is an inner restlessness to waste not a single minute to ameliorate the hardships of the poor, then continuous hard work becomes the driving force. He attributed the Bihar election results to “governance carried out with this emotion and commitment”.
Ram also represented what Valmiki described as “Maryada Purushottam” — “ideal manifestation of dignity and decency”. He epitomised great moral virtue, not only as an ideal king, but also as an ideal son, husband, brother, friend and even an ideal enemy.
In the vitiated public discourse today, we glorify Ram for offering dignity to the views of a washerman in his kingdom, yet, at the same time, don’t hesitate to troll a brilliant woman cricketer for her religious beliefs. It is time that the country turns to that personal ideal of maryada of Ram, besides the ideal of Ram Rajya, which Gandhi summed up as “the sovereignty of the people based on pure moral authority”.
The writer, president, India Foundation, is with the BJP
Share
