Ayodhya

Harmony Park

The settlement of Ayodhya dispute can not be done by any legal verdict or even by passing a law in parliament. Neither ‘Ram’ nor ‘Allah’ [for that matter even Babar] would have wanted their followers or devotees to even hurt the sentiments of the followers or devotees of the other [even assuming they are two different entities] and not to speak of physically hurting them and killing. The people of Ayodhya seem to be peace loving and want to live harmoniously going by the reports in the media. It is only the politicians and politicians in the garb of saints, who have vitiated the atmosphere leading to a lot of blood being shed and causing unimaginable economic loss for the people of the town. The way forwards will be to put up a nice garden with only the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the centre and christen it the ‘The Mahatma Gandhi park of communal harmony’. No pooja or namas should be permitted there. Only multi religious prayer [bajans etc.] as being conduct at Rajghat and other Gandhi memorials should be conducted every evening. While Lord Ram himself will be pleased to have his greatest devout Gandhi enshrined at his birth place [mythological though] and Allah will be pleased that one of the greatest of exponents of the Qoran has been enshrined and with them all Hindus and Muslims can feel proud of this. Let us remember Gandhiji’s words that he was as much a Muslim and a Christian as a Hindu he was. He was a modern symbol of secularism – a becon to the world torn by communal strife.

Let us also recollect Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s words ‘‘God is only one. Different people call Him by different name, some as Allah, some as God, others as Krishna, Shiva etc. It is like water in the lake. Some call it as ‘water’, others call it ‘pani’ or ‘jal’. The water is the same’’. Let us also remember the jingle of early seventies ‘Everything is same except the name’.