Renovating the idea that's India

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>"Ashok Chowgule"

>"Ashok Chowgule"

>

>Renovating the idea that's India >Wed, 28 Feb 2001 19:58:25

+0530 > > >Renovating the idea that's India >The Pioneer, 27th Feb 2001 >Rakesh

Sinha > > Somnath temple is ready to celebrate its golden jubilee. And >during

the Ayodhya debate in Parliament and subsequently in his article, >"Musings

from Kuamarakom," Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee >extrapolated his

argument from the speech of Dr Rajendra Prasad, then >President of India, on

May 11 1951 at the inaugural ceremony of the >Somnath temple, with whose

reconstruction many prominent Congressmen, >including members of Nehru's

cabinet, were associated. > > The argument predictably needled the present

Congress party, which >sneeringly contradicted the Prime Minister's speech,

stating that, >besides Nehru's dissent against the renovation work, cabinet

ministers >and Dr Prasad were involved in their personal capacities. This is

not a >fact. > > National heroes and cultural heritage should be invoked to

raise >people's morale and national consciousness, not to promote any

>revivalist cause. European history is replete with such instances. In >1895 a

stray article by Tilak in the Kesari on 23 April gave an impetus >to the repair

of Shivaji tomb at Raigarh in Kolaba. > > The tomb's repair gave an impetus to

the anti-imperialist >movement. Somnath temple in Junagadh State, which fell to

ruin from >repeated attacks by Mahmud of Ghazni in the 11th century, was a

poignant >testimony of external aggression and religious intolerance, which

>medieval India suffered. KM Munshi's novel "Jai Somnath" (1938) dealt >with

the importance of Somnath. Thus, soon after the integration of the >Junagarh

state with the Indian Union in 1947 Sardar Patel, then Union >Home Minister,

took a pledge to rebuild it. He got wide-ranging support, >including within the

Congress party and the Government. While two Union >Cabinet ministers, NV Gadgil

and KM Munshi, were part of the Somnath >Trust, Dr Rajendra Prasad looked after

the trust's financial matters. > > The approval for reconstruction came from

the union cabinet >itself. The Government appointed an advisory committee with

KM Munshi as >the chairman to oversee the shrine's reconstruction. Even Mahatma

Gandhi >advised that construction should be done with money from public

>donations; and Sardar Patel undertook to collect one crore rupees. > > The

reconstruction of Somnath temple set off a historic debate >within the Congress

on the twin issues of the roots of India's cultural >nationalism and the meaning

of secularism in India. Nehru failed to go >beyond his shibboleth that the

reconstruction would hurt India's image >as a secular country. In his letters

to chief ministers on August 1, >1951, he said, "It is little realised here

what great injuries to our >credit abroad is done by the communal organisations

of India, because >they represent just the things which a Western mind dislikes

intensely >and cannot understand. The recent inauguration of the Somnath temple

>with pomp and ceremony created a very bad impression abroad about India >and

her professions." His opposition betrayed ambiguities and hypocrisy >in his

ideological overtures. He wrote to Dr Prasad on March 2, 1951, >saying he had

differed on the timing of the reconstruction. > > It was two mindsets

contending with each other. For Nehru it was >an act of revivalism. However, Dr

Prasad and others took exception to >Nehru's approach, which failed to weld the

medieval and modern political >history of India with its ancient cultural

heritage. This heritage >predates the advent of semitic religions, for India's

pluralism cannot >be delineated only in terms of presence of Islam or

Christianity. India >is plural in ethos and spirit; Hinduism continued to give

birth to new >sects and philosophies, many of them contradicting and

challenging one >other. > > Nehru had no answer to the question that emerged

from how the >reconstruction of the ancient shrine, destroyed by an aggressor,

>discounted secularism. Dr Rajendra Prasad described Somnath temple as a

>symbol of national faith and said, "By rising from its ashes again, this

>temple of Somnath is to say proclaiming to the world that no man and no >power

in the world can destroy that for which people have boundless >faith and love in

their hearts... Today, our attempt is not to rectify >history. Our only aim is

to proclaim anew our attachment to the faith, >convictions and to the values on

which our religion has rested since >immemorial ages." > > If for Mahmud of

Ghazni the destruction of Somnath was a sign of >victory of Islam (he was

rewarded for it by the Caliph); for Pakistan, >its renovation was - as evident

from a resolution passed in a public >meeting in Karachi on 2th May 1951, an

act of insult to Muslim. As >Pakistan Radio went into anti-renovation

propaganda, Nehru made a retort >to Liaquat Ali Khan. In another instance,

Mahatma Gandhi rebuked an >Indian (Urdu) journal, which wrote that another

Ghazni had to come to >undo what was being done in Somnath. > > Dr Rajendra

Prasad or Sardar Patel's determination to remain >associated with the Somnath

reconstruction was not only a matter of >personal conviction but an expression

of quest for Indian paradigm of >secularism and cultural nationalism. Nehru's

isolation was axiomatic. >The reconstruction of Somnath temple helped to

exorcise the painful >memory that was haunting the Hindu psyche and brought

tremendous >exultation - as Munshi wrote to Nehru on 24th April 1951 - to "the

>Collective Sub-Conscience of India." However, this quest which began >with the

collective efforts of Congressman of Tilak school of thought >could not be

sustained owing to lack of academic and media support, >giving, as a result, an

upper hand to the Nehruvian stream of thought > > Get your FREE download of MSN

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