Reflection Note, Week 1

Stavan Mehta, UG2023

From a pedagogical perspective, I find it really interesting that we as students have to take ICT, a
compulsory meta-course, a course on courses. A course that teaches us how to write and read and
critically analyse and dissect. A class that makes us think about thinking. I hope to improve my
reading, writing and thinking. I am not exactly sure how to write or what is exactly expected of us
here, but I have tried.

Of the entire controversy surrounding the Ram Mandir and the Babri Masjid, my discomfort lies in
the unwillingness of people to adjust even slightly. The Allahabad HC verdict tried to give a
mutually satisfying solution, but it was not acceptable for the Hindu fundamentalists. They did
not just want to win; they were obsessed with making the other side lose. This fanatical sadism was
exemplified by their slogan, “Mandir Yahi Banega.”

The temple is to be built.

Where?
Right here.
There? In an empty space where no one would mind?
No. Right here.
Oh, what about right there?
Still in the holy city of Ayodhya, but which is not already occupied?
No. Right here.
Do you want to share the place? If it is so important to you, perhaps we can divide-
No. No. No. We do not want to listen.
Temple exactly here.
But then what about the mosque that has been standing there for centuries now?
Apply the oil of Dabur.
Wipe the name of Babur.
It is starting to feel less about the construction of the temple and more about the destruction of the
mosque…

One thing that stood out to me was L. K. Advani’s use of the term “pseudo-secular”. It led me to
think of the spaces that right-wing and left-wing politics allow their counterparts to occupy. The
left, because it is liberal and advocates for freedom of choice, must make space. The right in its
quintessential conservatism can very well reject the former and force it to vacate. By virtue of their
definition, the tolerant must tolerate the intolerant; there is no burden on the intolerant to
reciprocate. It feels unfair.

I was engrossed by the depiction of the various stakeholders who were and are generally discounted
as the collateral. People from the depressed castes and classes. People from minorities. Pilgrims,
farmers and traders. Innocent people, living their ordinary quotidian lives, who could not help but
get involved. I appreciate the deliberate choice to include them and the documentary’s attempt to
give them a voice.