Protest Day : Do Not Mix Govt and Politics With Religion

The transformation of the Ram Mandir bhumi pujan ceremony in Ayodhya into an official event with the fullest involvement of the UP administration and the central government marks a brazen subversion of the letter and spirit of the Constitution of India. The Supreme Court judgement that paved the way for the construction of the temple was unequivocal in its condemnation of the December 6, 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid as a criminal act. The involvement of the Central government at the level of the Prime Minister in the Bhumi Pujan amounts to a retrospective reinforcement and legitimisation of the crime committed. This makes a complete mockery of the principle of natural justice and the secular proclamation of the Indian Constitution.

The event also violates the Covid19 preventive protocol stipulated by the Union Home Ministry which rules out religious gatherings. Reports of priests and policemen deployed in Ayodhya duty testing Covid positive only highlight the risks to human lives that are being invited by undertaking the ceremony in the middle of a raging epidemic. Statements made by BJP leaders declaring the Ram Mandir as a cure against the Coronavirus only illustrate the bigoted attitude of the Sangh-BJP establishment and misplaced priorities of the government in facing the Covid19 pandemic. As cases and deaths mount by leaps and bounds, the government seeks to hide its complete failure by playing on the religious belief of the common people.

CPIML appealed to the people to reject the Modi government's design to politicise religion and prioritise a religious event over the requirements of public health and uphold the constitutional principles of secularism and justice.

On 5 August, the party called to the people to make their voices heard at homes or in physically distanced small gatherings holding placards, or with protest videos, to ask the following questions:

• The Supreme Court that gave the Ayodhya land to the Temple trust, also affirmed that the demolition of the Babri Masjid was a crime. Why is the PM of India and CM of UP and their Governments seeking to reap political benefits from the crime by attending the stone laying ceremony? As citizens of India, we demand punishment, not political benefit, for the perpetrators of the crime of Babri Masjid demolition.
• Unlock guidelines say no religious gatherings, and advice people about 65 to stay home and isolate. When the 69 year old PM violates these guidelines and attends a religious ceremony at Ayodhya, is he not encouraging all Indians to ignore and violate the Covid19 prevention guidelines?
• The Constitution of India is firm that religion and politics should not mix. Why are the PM of India and CM of UP seeking to reap political advantage from the foundation stone of a temple?
• The whole country is reeling from the Covid19 and lockdown crisis, compounded by floods that every year bring other epidemics in their wake. At such a time why is the PM of India busy turning a temple foundation ceremony into a political platform, instead of taking steps to protect India’s people from the deadly crises?

The protest day was observed and photos and videos were shared in large number with the slogans Dharm Se Door Rahe Rajneeti; Dont Mix Politics And Religion; Dont Violate Constitution; and Keep Govt Out Of Religious Ceremony.

In Uttar Pradesh, the police detained leaders of CPIML at Sitapur and Chandauli, to try and prevent the peaceful protests from taking place. Comrade Arjun Lal of Sitapur and Comrade Shrawan Kushwaha at Chandauli were detained by the police, in an authoritarian abuse of power.

At Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Tezpur, and Jorhat in Assam, Rayagada, Gunupur and Bhubaneshwar in Odisha, at Puducherry and Tripura, and at Udaipur io Rajasthan, people came out onto the streets with placards protesting the violation of the Constitutional norm separating the State from a particular faith and from Hindu supremacist ideology. In various towns and cities of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Karbi Anglong, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, people protested outside CPIML offices and their own homes.