How many Indians today would know that Allama Iqbal,Pakistan’s national poet, not just has a whole poem dedicated to Lord Ram, hehails him as ‘Imam-e-Hind’, the spiritual leader and guide of all Indians? Inthe much acclaimed nazm titled ‘Ram’ from his ‘Bang-e-Dara’ anthology, the poetwrote:
Hai Ram Ke Wujood Pe Hindostan Ko Naaz
Ahl-e-Nazar Samajhte Hain Uss Ko Imam-e-Hind
India is proud of the existence of Lord Rama
People with vision consider him spiritual leader of India
Perhaps the most influential of Urdu poets, Iqbal had been adescendant of Kashmiri Brahmins who embraced Islam and settled in what isPakistani Punjab today. A passionatechampion of pan-Islamism and a world sans borders and bonds, Iqbal was alsoproud of his Indian heritage. After all,he penned the soul-stirring ‘saare jahan se acha Hindostan hamara,’ the muchloved Indian anthem.
For Iqbal, Ram, the most popular of Hindu religious icons, withhis strong sense of righteousness, fairness and valour represented the best ofIndian culture and Hinduism. No wonderhe saw the religious-mythological figure as a hero of all Indians. Thefollowing lines are perhaps the best poetic tribute ever offered to Ram:
Aijaz Uss Charagh-e-Hidayat Ka Hai Yehi
Roshan Tar Az Sehar Hai Zamane Mein Sham-e-Hind
This alone is the miracle of this light of righteousness
That brighter than world’s morning is the evening of India
Talwar Ka Dhani Tha, Shujaat Mein Fard Tha
Pakeezgi Mein, Josh-e-Mohabbat Mein Fard Tha
He was expert in sword craft, was unique in bravery
Was matchless in piety and in the enthusiasm of love
Indeed, the whole poem is a powerful ode and moving lyricaltribute to someone who is loved and worshipped by nearly a billion Indians.
But Iqbal is hardly unique in this earnest expression oflove and reverence for Ram. The Indianliterature, especially Urdu and Persian literature, is full of many suchexamples of Hindu religious figures being celebrated by Muslim poets andwriters.
Ram is held in high esteem and celebrated by Muslim authorsand poets for noble values such as his unquestioning devotion to his family,sacrificing power for principles and steadfastness in the face of great odds.
In mixed societies of the north India where people oncelived in complete peace and harmony, ‘Ram, Ram bhayya’ had been a commongreeting and not just among Hindus but between Hindus and Muslims as well withno eyebrows being raised anywhere.
When this whole controversy over the Babri Masjid in Ayodhyawas manufactured by the Hindu Right in the 1980-’90s and soon turned into anexplosive, never-ending agitation, claiming that the 16th century mosque stoodat the exact place where the mythical Lord Ram was born, it left many Muslimsgenuinely bewildered. They found it hardto believe how the religious and spiritual icon that many of them had longadmired and respected had been hijacked by the Hindutva forces and turned intotheir “enemy.”
Every time, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal andassorted cousins of the BJP, which grew from a 2-member outfit in Parliament tothe all-powerful party of power today, marched with those massive portraits ofRam and models of the proposed Ram temple, the heartwarming lines of Iqbal’stimeless tribute to the Hindu deity would ring in my ears like some ancientchant.
Today, when innocent and utterly helpless Muslims are beinghunted and killed like animals in broad daylight across the length and breadthof this great country amidst the chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’, it is all the moreironic how Ram and his much loved name and teachings have been appropriated bythe fringe.
Ram is known as ‘Maryada Purushottam’ (pure and peerlessamong men) – one who couldn’t err and is the ultimate epitome of propriety andnobility for his followers.
Now his sacred name is being used to kill and inflict themost heinous of crimes on the most vulnerable members of society.
As a BBC report this week noted with irony, “Hindu lynchmobs have turned Ram’s name into a murder cry.”
The question is, how long will the reasonable andGod-fearing Hindus, who constitute the majority in the world’s largestdemocracy, stand around and do nothing while the Parivar drags their hallowedicons through mud and makes a mockery of their faith?
If I were a Hindu, I would be most outraged and aghast atthe way this great faith is being held to ransom by the extremists forpolitical expediency. I would be mostdisturbed by the way my faith is being wantonly used and abused by forces thathave nothing to do with religion, just as I had once been disturbed by the wayIslam had been exploited by the extremists.
So what explains the silent indifference of the sane and reasonablemajority of the Hindus? Why is it not speaking out visibly and effectively tostop this madness that seems to have captured the country that had once beenfeted for its religious tolerance and cultural diversity?
With the lynching of 22-year old Tabrez Ansari in Jharkhand,who had been beaten for nearly 18 hours by a bloodthirsty mob before beinglocked away in a police station denying him the desperately needed medical aid,the number of innocent people who have been offered at the altar of Hindu pridein the “new India” now stands at 112.
Of course, there have been many voices of sanity bycourageous activists like Harsh Mander, Teesta Setalvad, Prof Apoorvanand, ProfRam Puniyani, Sanjiv Bhatt, Vrinda Grover, Prof Manisha Sethi, Arundhati Roy,the late Justice Rajinder Sachar, Kavita Krishnan and numerous others who haveoften paid a heavy price for listening to their conscience. But they have been few and far in between andcan at best be counted on one’s fingertips.
When will these solitary voices of reason turn into anational chorus against bigotry and hate?
Indeed, instead of punishing the governing BJP for theserelentless killings and hate crimes against the Muslims that have brought shameto India with the world media questioning the very future of Indian democracy,the voters seem to have rewarded the saffron party handsomely. No one seemed to pay any attention to themany issues raised by the opposition led by the Congress party of Rahul Gandhiwho has quit in frustration.
Why would the BJP and its leadership change when itcontinues to be rewarded again and again by the voters for pursuing theself-same zero-sum politics of Us versus Them?
Aijaz Zaka Syed is an award-winning journalist and formereditor.