On August 5 and Ram Mandir

I am sorry but you can’t be for Americans taking down statues of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and also be opposed to the tearing down of the Babri Masjid which was constructed over a Hindu temple, whose only significance, given that it was not even being used as a mosque, was that it stood for many who had been subjugated once as a symbol of their subjugation exactly as Confederate statues do in the US.

Personally, I believe history cannot and should not be altered by breaking monuments, that one should recognize and learn from the past, but not try to change, because history can’t be changed, or buried, or pulled down, just because the symbol is gone doesn’t mean the past is too, and all you end up doing by tearing down buildings and monuments is creating bad history to get rid of bad history. But I also acknowledge that there are people who don’t think like me.

Unlike those with opeds in Indian express who think they won’t find Ram in this Ram temple, there are millions who will, for whom this is not about yet another temple for Ram, but about an assertion of their identity. For centuries, Hindus have been conditioned to think of their faith as a faith only and not an identity, and in a world where this is a privilege afforded to everyone else, without judgement, one can’t expect Hindus at large to stay different.

I personally, being an agnostic and not observant and also because of the way I was brought up, do not consider Hinduism as my primary overarching identity, I cling to my Indian and Bengali pride more than my Hindu one, and Ram to me is a lead character in a great epic but not someone I can get emotional on, but as a liberal, I do recognize that not everyone is obliged to think like I do.

The core of liberalism is understanding that your world view is one of many and accept, if not agree with, other views and realize that what is not emotive or important for you does not imply that it has to be the truth for everyone