New Delhi (11.12.2022): Indian folktales have some inherent lessons to learn from. Some of them can be identified with the current political scenario and even with the changed political alignment of the past.
As the story goes, three friends were on an expedition. But their pleasure trip turned into a catastrophe when they got stuck in a flood. With no escape in sight, they decided to take a chance by jumping in the water to wade through. So the first one jumped taking the name of ‘Ram’, he survived. The second one also jumped invoking the name of ‘Khuda’ and he too survived but the third one, a clever by half, jumped invoking Ram Khudai and met a tragic end. He drowned.
One is free to equate this with the policies of Congress in the eighties, AAP in the just concluded elections and the phenomenal rise of the BJP in two-three decades. On several occasions, Arvind Kejriwal quoted his maternal grandmother’s sentiment that Ram Temple cannot be built to replace a mosque while Manish Sisodia wanted a hospital at the disputed site.
Aiming and claiming an AAP Govt in Gujarat after December 08, Kejriwal advocated for the picture of Lord Ganesh and Goddess Lakshmi on currency notes. He also emphasized that he was born on Janmashtami.
Kejriwal adored Ram Khudai and hurt his party’s prospects badly in Gujarat, Himachal, and Delhi alike. In Gujarat, Muslims supported AAP but Hindus maintained a distance. Further, in the Delhi MCD elections, AAP lost its strong support base among Muslims to the Congress for playing the Hindu card.
Clarity always prevails. The message folktale is loud and clear that “Ram Khudai” doesn’t work and it didn’t work for Kejriwal either.
