Yudhya (War) and Ayodhya (No War Zone)!

On 28 September, my friends from Netherlands enquired about the verdict on Ayodhya- a place of worship under legal battle for over 60 years, a bone of contention between Muslims and Hindus, and a vile concoction of politics and religion in the hands of politicians looking for cheap issues other than poverty reduction and development. The place is called Ayodhya, which itself means “A place of No War”! It was the place of big battle almost 20 years ago, when the tower of the mosque was brought down by the right wing Hindu fundamentalists. It also lead to the death of hundreds of Muslims and Hindus in various riots across the country for the next two years in separate incidents. It led to distrust between the two communities over a long period, which was further strengthened due to various international terrorist activities and the infamous Mumbai attack couple of years ago. Why should a No-War zone turn into a War Zone? And become a cause of death and spilling of blood of hundreds of people, and leaving many crying? In the land of Gandhi and Buddha, we have not learned to forgive. In the land that taught ahimsa (non-violence), we have learnt to fight for what we consider as dharma, and we were taught to fight for dharma by some of our deities. Look at most of our deities. They all spilled blood, to take revenge…to establish justice. More like the Old Testament! But, dharma is something that binds together. In the name of fighting for dharma, (what should unite us together), alas, we have divided ourselves. Religion has taught us wisdom. We have rejected wisdom and religion and have given into revenge and bloodshed. Call it, Murder!