Commentary/T V R Shenoy
The true memorial for any ruler is what s/he does when still
alive -- what they do for the people
Where is the tomb of Chanakya? Can anyone tell me where Samudragupta
was cremated? Is there any memorial to mark where Rajaraja Chola
breathed his last?
These are but a few of the great Indians whom we revere. It doesn't
take mausoleums to keep their memories alive.
Compare this with the way memorials and monuments are sprouting
today. It is as if politicians, or their followers, know their
achievements were so few (if any!) that people need concrete reminders.
A gigantic slice of the Yamuna waterfront in Delhi has been appropriated
by the Nehru-Gandhis -- Jawaharlal, Indira, Rajiv, and Sanjay.
That is in addition to Teen Murti Bhavan, the Indira Gandhi Memorial
at 10, Safdarjang Road, and other pieces of prime real estate.
The Congress is now making a determined attempt to encroach on
temple land at Sriperumbudur, on the grounds that Rajiv Gandhi
died there. That land is sacred, dedicated to the saint Ramanuja.
It was bad enough that a compliant administration allowed a political
meeting to be held there. Should the error be compounded?
Nor is it just the Nehru-Gandhi who are the major beneficiaries.
Adjoining the bungalow occupied by Sonia Gandhi is another giant
piece of property. A board identifies it as the Lal Bahadur Shastri
Smriti. But have you ever tried to buy a ticket to enter?
Or how about the Babu Jagjivan Trust, yet another bungalow which
is a stone's throw away from the Central Secretariat complex?
If this keeps up Delhi will be reduced to a gigantic graveyard.
If the Congress is the worst offender, it isn't the only one.
The Telugu Desam, the party of United Front convenor Chandrababu
Naidu, is trying to grab a park to construct a memorial to N T
Rama Rao.
Mercifully, a group of concerned citizens have taken up the cause.
They feel, quite rightly, that their children would be better
served by the wide green acres of a park, not the barren concrete
of a tomb to departed greatness.
Better still, the Andhra Pradesh high court has stepped in. Chandrababu
Naidu has been prevented from making political capital of the
father-in-law he overthrew.
Why is it that such memorials always seem to be on the most expensive
real estate? How expensive is it?
Recently, there was a dispute over a single house on Aurangzeb
Road in central Delhi, currently the Israeli embassy. The Supreme
Court of India valued this property at not less than Rs 500 million!
Please understand that this house is far smaller than 10, Safdarjung
Road, where Indira Gandhi was shot. That in turn is only a fraction
of sprawling Teen Murti Bhavan.
The Bofors scandal, as everyone remembers, was caused by a pay-off
of Rs 640 million. Here we are talking of a waste of several hundreds
of millions. Yet nobody is remotely concerned.
How, when, and where did this grave-worship begin? It has no sanction
in ancient Indian tradition. True, some texts cite veneration
of Shiva-Shakti as Shamshaan Rudra and Shamshaan Tara! But
even so it was the gods who were being worshipped, certainly not
mortals.
Nor does Islam in its purest form permit any such thing. In fact,
in Hejaz, the land of Mecca and Medina, it is specifically prohibited.
The kings of Arabia are interred in secret places, so that nobody
worships at their tombs.
Did it then begin in the West? Scarcely! The Kremlin has housed
every ruler of Russia since it was built in 1156. 10, Downing
Street has been the home of British prime ministers since 1721,
the White House that of American presidents from 1799. Nobody
has suggested making a monument of them.
Yes, Mt Vernon in the US is a museum to George Washington. But
that was a private house, one which his heirs gave to the nation.
Just as Indira Gandhi presented Anand Bhavan in Allahabad. (Why
was it necessary to dedicate Teen Murti Bhavan as well?)
No, this idiocy is nothing to do with Hinduism, or Islam, or Christianity.
Let us lay the blame where it belongs the perverted 'secularism' --
that is the legacy of Lenin.
It was in Communist Russia that Lenin's mummified body was set
up for grotesque rituals in an ugly mausoleum. (Though Stalin
had enough sense to retain the Kremlin!)
It has been steadily downhill from there. Wherever the deadening
hand of socialism appeared, tombs sprouted on public land -- in
China, Korea, and, of course, India.
I really couldn't care less for the waste of land in Beijing or
Pyongyang. But I would hate to see India's cities die.
The true memorial for any ruler is what he or she does when still
alive -- what they do for the people. If an Ashoka or an Akbar
is revered, it isn't for an Iron Pillar or a tomb at Sikandra.
I hope and pray that the Andhra Pradesh high court breaks new
ground in the NTR Memorial litigation. It's time to halt the trend
of encroachment in the name of the dead. And, perhaps, even time
to start a little land reclamation?!
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