Hyderabad: Triumph of Sri Rama

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by Sandhya Jain

on 06 Apr 2012

Credit for the successful Sri Ram Navami Shobha Yatra in Hyderabad on 1 April 2012 must be given where it is due – to the devotees who sought to demonstrate that no city in the punya bhumi of Bharat can diminish or expel Sri Rama merely because it has a substantial Muslim population, and to Chief Minister Nallari Kiran Reddy and his administration, particularly the Police, who ensured a peaceful and successful celebration of the birthday of the Prince of Ayodhya.

Sunday’s triumphant procession erased the anxiety building up in the nation as a whole, regarding the fate of the celebrations in the city of the erstwhile Nizams. The weeks preceding Rama Navami day have been extremely stressful for the Hindu community as there was too much unnecessary uncertainty regarding the State Government’s attitude towards the festival, especially after its organiser Thakur Raja Singh, a Telugu Desam municipal councilor of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, was arrested on some pretext on 12 March 2012, a move widely seen as an attempt to scuttle the yatra.

Although Hindus comprise as much as 89% of Andhra Pradesh population, Akbaruddin Owaisi, an MLA of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen which is in alliance with the ruling Congress party, raised temperatures by deriding and denigrating Sri Ram in a manner injurious to communal harmony.

[See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvjsgp8Mx-I]

Owaisi also demanded a ban on all Hindu yatras on festivals such as Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti, even though the Shobha Yatra of 2011 had passed off peacefully.

Hindu anxiety was not misplaced. Earlier in January this year, the Andhra Pradesh government stunned devotees by banning the ringing of bells in the Sri Bhagyalakshmi Temple in the Char Minar area. It also banned the performing of ‘maha-arti’ and deployed police to implement the ban. This triggered tensions over the fate of the Yatra, and the temple emerged as the focal point for the Yatra.

After initially taking a hardline and trying to browbeat the organizers to cancel the celebrations, the administration let better sense prevail. The first indications that all would be well came some days ago, when the Hyderabad Police began making elaborate arrangements for the security of the procession and devotees, and the smooth flow of traffic to minimize inconvenience to the public during traffic diversions on account of the Shobha Yatra. The Yatra route was also worked out with the organising committee and; Thakur Raja Singh was released on 24 March 2012.

The Shobha Yatra, when it finally happened with the collaboration of umpteen Hindu organizations, was truly grand, a triumph of Sri Rama, comparable to his return to Ayodhya in the hoary past, with ecstatic devotees turning up in numbers said to touch a whopping three lakhs! And it was completely joyous and peaceful. Not a single untoward incident was reported from anywhere, which suggests that despite provocation and instigation, the common citizen of both communities did not want to mar the sanctity of the day. Several devotees from Delhi, Mumbai and neighbouring Karnataka arrived in the city, hoping to participate in the historic celebrations, and they were not disappointed.

The best part of the celebration was the fact that unlike 2011, the Hyderabad Police did not compel Hindus to divert the procession from their regular route. All along the 7-km route, participants reported great joy and fun, with young children dressing up as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bhose, Maharana Pratap, besides of course, Sri Rama, Lakshman, Sita Ji, Hanuman and the Vanar Sena.

One of the most mysterious developments of the day was that some prominent mosques were wrapped up with cloth for the day, and the community as a whole absented itself from public appearances. It was of course, gratifying that the rabble rousers who had opposed the Yatra did not appear in the streets and create trouble, but never in the city’s history have the religious structures of ANY community been ‘shrouded’ in this manner and literally shut down. It was inexplicable.

For the Hindu community of Andhra Pradesh, this was the second great triumph after the agitation some years ago against church encroachment on the Tirupathi Hills forced then chief minister YSR Reddy to declare the entire seven hills as the body of Lord Venkateswara and ban the ingress of any other religion in the place.

Andhra Pradesh derives much of its eminence on the Hindu civilisational spectrum from the spiritual contributions of Sant Bhadrachala Ramdas, Swami Ramananda Teertha, the famous Vijayanagar ruler Krishna Deva Raya, and the poet Tallapaka Annamacharya.

Under Nizam rule, Muslim religion and culture were naturally dominant, and Hindus lived a quietist existence, which remained unchanged under the secular dispensation that emerged at independence. Hindu festivals were largely private family affairs, with quiet temple prayers and celebrations.

In the Old City, only one grand procession was allowed to each community – one for Muharram and the second for Ganpati. Then suddenly in February 2010, the Prophet’s birthday, Milad-un-Nabi, ignored all over the orthodox Muslim world, was observed with unprecedented gusto.

This was obviously an assertion of communal might, and Hindus decided that they also needed some positive affirmation. The very next month, in March 2010, devotees took the Rama Navami celebrations out of the temple compounds and in to the streets.

A few days later, the hitherto low key Hanuman Jayanti also became a huge jamboree. It resulted in clashes between two groups and days of curfew followed in the Old City. This year, the wisdom of Maryada Purushottam dawned, and the day passed in celebration.

References

[1] http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Ramnavami-Old-City-on-tenterhooks/articleshow/12487209.cms

[2] http://www.newswala.com/Hyderabad-News/Notification-on-Traffic-diversions-in-view-of-Sri-Ram-Navami-10491.html

User Comments Post a Comment

I think we should be thankful to Owaisi for demanding ban on Hindu festivals for otherwise Hindus would not have united.

Vasant
April 06, 2012

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A heart warming report. Also reminding us of the gigantic task that lies ahead

Virendra Parekh
April 06, 2012

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Happy about the Sri Ram Navami Shobha Yatra this year in Hyderabad.The leaders of Muslim community must never forget that their ancesters were Hindus. The Hindus have been and are the most liberal and tolerant. But they can not be browbeaten in their own motherland. In fact, the Muslims and Christians born and brought up in India, the Hindusthan, are also Hindus! Intolerance of Hindu ways in the Hindu land can never be forgiven.

kishore Chandra Das
April 06, 2012

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The real triumph will be when the mosques are banned from all external celebrations in any public spaces, especially near a Hindu temple, & the same goes for churches...when no church or mosque is allowed to be built within 1000 yards of a temple, when no meat is to be served or sold within 1000 yards of a temple....

Poonam
April 06, 2012

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Hi, i posted you on
http://newshopper.sulekha.com/hyderabad-triumph-of-sri-rama_news_1543337.htm

Roop
April 06, 2012

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After the partition of India if Pakistan was created for Muslims,then obiously India should be for Hindus first then for any other communities. Naturally Hindus must enjoy total freedom and more rights in every field, without any restrictions. It hurts me when Hindus in the congress party act against the wishes of the Hindu majority in my own country. I am not borne in India,nor i am Indian citizen but i am very proud to be called Indian and a HINDU.
sohan sharma
Datchet.
England

sohan lall sharma
April 08, 2012

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poo nam,is that all on your wish list,how about sending all Muslims to Pakistan , all Christians to England and send Buddhists to Srilanka and untouchables to Bangladesh?

observer
April 08, 2012

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Well said, Poonam. I would add that it would be wonderful if we could send all Indian Muslims to Saudi Arabia and all Christians to Italy.

Indira Oorath
April 08, 2012

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Yes pooh nam ,listen to a person who mooched off of the dreaded Arabs (read Muslims) (on record upon her own admission) for decades and now bad mouths them ,what a hypocrite!

observer
April 09, 2012

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Unlike Hydrabad ,the “Ulemas” (Muslim clerics) from Uttar Pradesh have come to Delhi to demand a separate set of criminal laws for India’s Muslims that are in tune with the Shariah. (Presumably they are hankering for the same laws of the seventh-century Arabia in which women are stoned to death for the crime of getting raped.) The bearded clerics came riding a special train called the “Ulema Express” (arranged by railway minister Lalu Yadav, no doubt).

It may be recalled that the Muslims of India already enjoy separate civil laws in India in terms of marriage, divorce, maintenance of divorced wives and property inheritance, but Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs are denied this luxury. They are subject to one and the same common civil and criminal law as imposed by the Indian constitution.

Muslims now want to be tried under separate law

What the Muslim clerics are now demanding is that even the Indian Penal Code should not be applicable to the Muslims. Instead, they should have their own criminal law. All Muslims should be tried in their own courts which would run according to this new criminal law that will be in tune with the Shariah. The judges in these courts will, of course, be the Muslim clerics themselves.

x
April 10, 2012

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I would like to enlighten the jihadi observer that no expatriate, not even Pakistani expatriates, mooches off the Arabs. All expatriates in the Gulf, regardless of their nationality or religion, have to work much harder than in their own home countries, that too with much fewer workers' rights or human rights. So, 'mooched off' is certainly not the right word for any Gulf expat. Also, the human rights violations committed on poor, uneducated workers from South Asia are to be seen to be believed.

Indira Oorath
April 10, 2012

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Then STOP going there,no body forced you to go there,why not just stay in India and "Shine"!

observer
April 10, 2012

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Really heartening achievement! Unabridged Sri.Valmiki Ramayanam , Srimad Bhagavatham -these need to be compulsorily taught to our youngsters & adults among Hindus. Otherwise we end up embracing cricketers / filmstars as role models. One more reason to always vote for BJP & shun all anti Hindu inimical political parties in India. Thank God YSR died in plane crash !

Nirnaami
April 11, 2012

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@X , based on what you have reported , Hindus should have no problem in asking such people to quit India for Saudi Arabia. Such inimical forces will always pose a threat. The word 'secularism' hurriedly introduced by Indira Gandhi in our Constitution is the cause of it. Hindus themselves ought to make an indepth profound internalisation of their own Upanishads & various Spiritual Texts . Only then would stop muttering idiotically " different paths of reaching God ". We should give up expecting succour from politicians who know nothing about Sri.Ram .Who are but worshippers of votes .

Nirnaami
April 11, 2012

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I would like to tell the jihadi observer that talented, hard working and honest Indians will stop going to the Gulf only after the thoroughly dishonest Paki religious fanatics have stopped going there. Does he not know that Arab countries prefer Indian staff over Pakis and Bangladeshis?

Indira Oorath
April 11, 2012

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The only reason (if any) i think is is because Indians are expert in sleeping 10 people in a cramped room,which means very affordable and cheap to maintain!

observer
April 11, 2012

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To sustain Hinduism in India
——————————————
1. Every Hindu couple should give birth to at least 4 kids.
2. Impose anti-conversion action through out India
3. Hindus should be given Bhumi-Putra status like Malaysia
4. As a mother land religion, Hinduism should be one of the compulsory subject until Higher Secondary Education through out India.
5. Establish one Hinduism University in every state.

raghav
April 11, 2012

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I would like to inform the jihadi observer that, unlike Pakistanis, who are mostly labourers in the Gulf, Indians consist of all strata of society, not only labourers who are unfortunately sometimes compelled to share a room with many others. If Indian labourers are suffering in cramped accommodation, so are Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Afghans, Nepalis, Sri Lankans and Indonesians. However, most Indians in the Gulf are middle class professionals who can afford to rent their own flats and even live with their families which is rare in the case of other nationalities.