“The dream of a nation of equals that Babasaheb Ambedkar held as he penned the Indian constitution has been crushed once again,” said Ambedkar Students’ Association, University of Hyderabad, in a statement which called the Ram temple event the inauguration of the most naked emblem of the Hindu Rashtra.
“This is a sombre moment as the most naked emblem of the Hindu Rashtra will be inaugurated amidst fanfare and media adulation. It is also the time to take stock of how we got here, who is responsible for this, and where we go from here,” said ASA HCU.
The statement read: “The history of the mobilisation for a Ram Temple at the site of Babri Masjid has been a history marred with deceit and violence. From the false cultural narratives about the worship of Ram at the site of Babri to the violent mobilisations for the demolition of Babri, to counter the Dalit-Bahujan mobilisation after Mandal Commission implementation, to the eventual demolition of Babri and the construction of Ram Mandir, there is a clear footprint of the country’s radical Brahmanical right-wing in each step. This much is obvious. But we should never forget the forces that enabled the Brahmanical forces of this country to fulfil their ideological project. These forces include the liberal ‘centrists’ who have forever been complicit with the Hindu majoritarian project, the country’s ‘independent’ institutions that are supposed to prevent this backsliding of democracy to brazen lawless majoritarianism and the country’s Brahmanical press and media who have failed in even establishing simple truths. Today, we should resolve not just to defeat the Hindu majoritarian project but also to never rely on the same forces who brought us to this state.”
The statement further noted: “The destruction of Babri Masjid and the public and gleeful erasure of its memory should bring shame to all constitutionally minded citizens of this country. In the Riddles of Rama and Krishna, Ambedkar criticises the immoral nature of Ram’s rule as best exemplified by his mindless killing of Sambuka, the Shudra, for indulging in Tapasya, transgressing the Dharma assigned to him by birth. He calls it ‘the worst crime that history has ever recorded’. The reason the Brahmanical Sangh Parivar wants to erect Ram as the national icon of Hindu Rashtra also becomes clear when we read the analysis of Babasaheb Ambedkar. The Ram Temple at the site of Babri will stand as a symbol of the same Brahmanical violence that Ambedkar saw as the essence of Ram Rajya. Alienating Indian Muslims, destroying Dalit-Bahujan consciousness and erecting the supremacy of Brahmanism in a Hindu Rashtra are the open goals of the Sangh Parivar that are plain and visible for anyone paying attention. Only an organised Ambedkarite movement committed to installing constitutional consciousness among the Indian public and annihilating all notions of Brahmanical Supremacy can retrieve the country from the clutches of Brahmanical lawless majoritarianism.”
Ambedkar Students’ Association also strongly condemned the declaration of holiday for Ram temple event.
“University of Hyderabad released a circular declaring a half day holiday on 22/01/2024 on Ram Lalla Pran Pratishtha at Ayodhya. Declaring a religious event as a national one shows the state’s unconstitutional patronage of Hindu religion. Further, national commemoration of Ram temple which stands at the site of demolished Babri masjid rubs salt over the injuries inflicted on Muslims in countless riots. To use the state machinery to enforce and propagate their own beliefs and practices for their own political interest is a blatant misuse of power by the BJP government. It is important to note that the same BJP led government in Uttar Pradesh had cancelled the holiday for Eid Milad un Nabi,” ASA HCU said.
