Recently, in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hoisted a flag atop the Ram temple—whose inauguration took place a few years ago—declaring that the ceremony marked the completion of the temple. He said, “Centuries-old wounds are healing, there is relief, and the resolve taken hundreds of years ago has been fulfilled.”
Invoking the name of Ram several times, he called for the establishment of a nation inspired by Ram as a moral ideal and the vision of Ram Rajya. The event generated celebration in some sections of society, and his supporters began proposing plans for more temples in Kashi, Mathura, Sambhal and other places. While appealing to draw inspiration from Ram and referring to alleged wounds inflicted by Muslim rulers, the Prime Minister also criticised the education system introduced by Lord Macaulay, which he said had planted inferiority and a colonial mindset among Indians.
While he claimed that temple construction has reduced the pain of age-old wounds, India’s social and economic indicators are sharply declining, and on global parameters—including religious freedom, freedom of expression and press freedom—India’s position continues to deteriorate.
Around the same time, some of the Prime Minister’s political allies—currently in power in Rajasthan—were speaking about observing 6 December as Shaurya Diwas (Day of Valour). This is the day on which the Babri Masjid was demolished by organisations associated with the Sangh Parivar. For supporters of this observance, the narrative of Babur destroying a temple and building a mosque in its place has been a symbolic wound for Hindus. However, the Supreme Court did not endorse this narrative in its judgment, and analysis of the Archaeological Survey of India’s findings does not establish such a conclusion.
The Supreme Court also observed that placing idols inside the Babri Masjid was a criminal act. The VHP and RSS presented a video claiming that Ram miraculously appeared inside the mosque on the night of 23–24 December 1949. In his famous documentary Ram ke Naam, Anand Patwardhan interviews Mahant Ram Sharan Das, who stated that he and others placed the idols there, were arrested and later released on bail. According to him, District Magistrate K. K. Nayar—who later became an MP from the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the predecessor of the BJP—played a crucial role in enabling the act.
The Supreme Court further noted that all those involved in the demolition of the mosque were guilty. This included leaders such as L. K. Advani, M. M. Joshi and Uma Bharti—who were not punished. Advani’s rath yatra triggered widespread anti-Muslim violence along its route. After the demolition, further large-scale violence erupted in many parts of the country, particularly in Mumbai, Surat and Bhopal.
The violence and resulting polarisation brought unprecedented electoral gains for the BJP, enabling it to form a government at the Centre under Atal Bihari Vajpayee. After ten years of non-BJP rule, Modi came to power with promises of development, the return of black money from abroad (with ₹15 lakh to each citizen), and the creation of 2 crore jobs every year.
These promises proved to be mere rhetoric—as acknowledged by Amit Shah, then BJP president. Ordinary citizens are now suffering under a severe economic crisis and surviving on five kilograms of free ration.
The Prime Minister is satisfied that the narrative crafted by the Sangh Parivar—amplified by a compliant media—has deeply influenced a large and diverse section of society, enabling him to claim that the era of Ram Rajya has begun. Modi’s politics is largely built on powerful symbolism. Different figures have imagined Ram differently: for Kabir, Ram was a spiritual essence present everywhere. Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest Hindu of the 20th century, said in 1929, “By Ram Rajya I do not mean a Hindu state, but the Kingdom of God... For me Ram and Rahim are the same. Apart from truth and morality, I accept no other God. The ancient ideal of Ram Rajya is a true democracy in which even the poorest can obtain swift justice without long and costly procedures.”
Modi’s Ram Rajya is built on hostility towards the followers of Rahim. It is contrary to the idea of justice. The Allahabad High Court verdict in the Ayodhya case relied on “faith,” shaped by relentless propaganda that Ram was born exactly where the Babri Masjid stood—despite an 1885 court ruling recognising the land as belonging to the Sunni Waqf Board. Chief Justice Chandrachud’s Supreme Court verdict in the Ayodhya dispute was not grounded in legal evidence, but in a belief that God had given instructions through dreams, even though no evidence exists that the mosque was built by destroying a Ram temple.
India is a secular state, and religious activities should remain the domain of religious leaders. But our Prime Minister performs both roles—he governs and he presides over religious functions. He is both ruler and priest. It is worth recalling that President Dr. Rajendra Prasad attended the inauguration of the Somnath Temple in his personal capacity, not as India’s President.
Jawaharlal Nehru, inaugurating the Bhakra-Nangal Dam, redefined the word “temple,” saying that dams are the temples of modern India. But for today’s rulers, building temples has become a national project. Despite the RSS chief advising that there is no need to search for a shivling beneath every mosque, such campaigns continue aggressively. Justice for historically marginalised communities remains incomplete. The present rulers aim to weaken the Constitution—the document that envisions liberty, equality and fraternity for India.
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The author formerly taught at IIT Mumbai and is the President of the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism
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