Modi raises a flag at Ayodhya, rekindles faith in an ancient nation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi combined several messages in his 33 minute speech at Ayodhya on November 25. He held the ideals of Lord Ram as embodying the soul of national life and elaborated on the inclusive nature of Ram Rajya that offered hope and opportunity for all sections. But perhaps the most important thread that ran through Modi’s speech on a sunny, clear day in Ayodhya was that those who get cut off from their roots are condemned to find the glory of their past buried in the pages of history.

His reference to the Kovdidara tree emblazoned on the “dharma dhwaj (Flag of Dharma)” that was raised on Tuesday at the Ram Temple as embodying the “return of memory” is a powerful evocation of cultural identity and the struggles of faith to survive in the face of waves of invasions and foreign rule. The occasion of the completion of the construction of the temple and the seven others that form the parikrama or the inner boundary around the main structure was an apt setting for national event.

“Today when Kovidara is being established again in Ram Temple's precinct, this is not just the return of a tree. This is the return of our memory. This is the renaissance of our identity,” said Modi. Not only was the flag with the Sun symbol of the Suryavanshi clan and the Kovidara central to the kingdom of Ayodhya, it marks the erasure of a deliberate insult by an invader who destroyed a temple that sat at the core of the belief of a conquered people. The raising of the dharma dhwaj was a deeply symbolic moment when the legacy of Ram was fully reclaimed after the temple’s reported destruction in 1528.

Modi has often referred to the need to get rid of the “mentality of slavery,” sometimes framing it as 1,000 years of foreign rule. The cultural argument is not bereft of politics as Modi has made recognition of India’s past and a rejection of “false history” a part of his messaging in elections. The need to acknowledge spiritual essence of Ram and the reasons why he is held in such reverence is part of a larger discussion on identity and belief that often manifests as a political divide over Hindutva. Its continuing relevance becomes apparent at a time when Left students turn a protest against air pollution into a rally in support of the slain Maoist leader Hidma sparking a heated war of words.

The overused phrase that the conflict between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and their opponents (political parties who define themselves as “secular” and Left-Liberal intellectuals and elites) is about the “idea of India” is indeed true despite its repeated iteration. The idea of India that de-sensitising oneself about India’s cultural and historical past and the acceptance of a soulless creed that amounts to an erasure of identity – best described as deracination -- has gained force since Modi became Prime Minister in 2014.

The battle over content and rationale of nationhood is hardly over, but the ascendance of the dharam dhwaj is more than just another milestone in India’s journey as an independent nation.