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Ayodhya: Need to move beyond ruling

The Ayodhya verdict is getting mixed reactions. One set of views declares it a triumph of Indian ethos of secularism, pluralism, tolerance, and unity in diversity and peaceful co-existence. Others brand it as a political verdict contrary to facts and law, affirmation of Hindu majoritarianism, judicial perpetuation of a gross illegality, an attempt to supplant the much cherished ‘rule of law’ with the ‘divine rule’ and so on.

Be that as it may, the core issue involved in the Ayodhya matter is essentially political. It will be foolhardy to seek a legal solution of a political and religious problem. In 1994, the apex court had returned the Presidential Reference unanswered on the question: “whether a Hindu temple or any Hindu religious structure existed prior to the construction of the Babri Masjid (including the premises of the inner and outer courtyards of such structure)” on the count that the reference was superfluous, unnecessary, opposed to secularism and favoured one religious community.

The momentous verdict of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court has given an opportunity to leave the past behind and press on with new resolve and vigour. We should shun internecine belligerent positions and should reach out to each other to hammer out a mutually acceptable solution more or less in line with the Ayodhya verdict.

NEETI GOYAL, Bahadurgarh

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Worry about true culture  Punjab Tourism Minister Hira Singh Gabria, has every right and reason to be upset over the so-called Punjabi character being presented as funny. But there is no universal Punjabi character in the real sense (news report, “Punjab writes to Centre on cultural depiction” by Megha Mann, Oct 4). In India, each community, a conglomeration of individuals has developed its own exclusive culture over the years. Every culture embodies our inheritance and ethos and also depicts how we live and how we behave in society. While enjoying tales and accounts about our good deeds, we should not be hyper sensitive if our behaviour or a particular habit is depicted in a lighter vein in a specific context in the media. We should be broad-minded enough to take any pun in our stride. Of course, ridiculing or caricaturing any community just for the heck of it is condemnable. What is more important is that the danger to Punjabi culture, whatever Mr Gabria means by it, is not from its misrepresentation in films and serials but from social evils like drug abuse, female foeticide and infanticide and degradation of human values. Unfortunately, the government is not doing much to stop them. I would also like to ask how people would experience richness of the Sikh history and culture in the lap of mountains when these natural gifts are also being vandalised by the high and mighty in the pursuit of their personal comforts and business interests. HEMA, Langeri, Hoshiarpur