What happens to an ambitious country that has one eye on a glorious past that stretches thousands of years back and another on an emerging future full of confounding new technologies?
Will it take a magnificent leap across time? Or will it suffer, torn between heritage and modernity?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked Indians to straddle the two ends of legacy and modernity after he installed and breathed spiritual life into a black stone idol of Lord Rama in a ceremony run with military precision and symbolic of a Hindu Renaissance or resurgence.
The shrine in itself is a carefully crafted work that takes the past and the future in a single fold and may well be a metaphor for Modi's ambitions for a new version of a developed Bharat that is India.
The "Ram Lalla" (Little Ram) with pristine eyes stood in divine splendour in a magnificent three-storey structure built in the Nagara style of temple architecture.
With military helicopters showering rose petals in a city now blessed by solar street lights and an international airport, a Hindu version of the Vatican has in effect taken place, backed by new technologies and mighty state power. An estimated Rs 100,000 crore of government money is being spent around the shrine built by a private trust.
But buildings are one thing. Societies are another.
Visualising a Modern Republic As Ram Rajya
The promise of Lord Ram being an instrument of national consciousness and a repository of human values and ideals dominated Modi's speech delivered after he conducted rituals as a Yajman (Chief Patron) of the ceremonies at Ayodhya.
Now, Modi has to walk the talk: From Ram Lalla to Ram Rajya.
The Rajya, or the rule of Rama, is believed to be one of probity, public accountability, and impeccable personal conduct in an age when kings were worshipped as gods. But things get complicated in a modern, democratic republic built on the ruins of colonial rule.
Diversity and equality were not exactly contemporary values (Yuga Dharma) in the times of Rama. Modi's Ayodhya plan and speeches have carefully crafted places or references for Ramayana's symbols of social diversity: Nishadraj the boatman, Sabari the tribal woman, and indeed, Maharishi Valmiki who wrote the Ramayana after being born into a community of bird hunters.
But then there was no Islam or Christianity in Lord Rama's times. Ram Lalla has come to occupy a spot where a Muslim mosque structure was demolished illegally by Modi's comrades a mere three decades ago in a modern, constitutional republic.
Will Modi’s Mantra Work in Modern Times?
Modi says the time now is not just for Vijay (victory) but also for Vinay (Humility). Ambitions and humility rarely go hand-in-hand.
Modi's speech ticked all the right boxes on social harmony, human ideals, and the welfare of all (Sarvey bhavantu sukhinaha) in a world-is-family (Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam) package.
Walking the talk is the big challenge now.
What the ruling BJP and its cadres, officials, and policies now have to do is go that extra mile to show that muscular nationalism has a human heart and matching integrity.
Actions speak louder than words. What Modi now needs to do is to demonstrate how social harmony can happen in modern times.
We do not mean the peace of the graveyard or the silence of the lambs but the smiling consent of those won over to trust a government criticised as 'majoritarian'.
For this, Modi needs to do some tough talking to his cadres who are still exulting in vengeful victory than emulating the ideals of Lord Rama he invokes often.
Can a Ram Rajya Model Serve Our Nation?
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the temple consecration ceremony made it appear as if Lord Rama's Treta Yug (age) had returned.
That sounds poetic. Alas, his ilk must contend with democracy, equality, and development in the current Iron Age, aka Kaliyuga.
"Ram is an eternal and a global soul," Modi thundered as he attempted to blend a hoary, myth-and-legend-laden past into a future in which artificial intelligence and social-media-charged democracy will be an everyday reality.
Beyond election-charged speeches, we need to see a glide path to a Rama Rajya that displays social harmony to match economic resurgence.
In Uttara Ramayana, the sequel to Rama's story, the Lord's wife Sita is put through an Agni Pariksha (ordeal by fire). Modi, as seen by his devout followers has himself taken the place of the ruler. However, in our times it is he who has to go through an Agni Pariksha. The world is watching.
(The writer is a senior journalist and commentator who has worked for Reuters, Economic Times, Business Standard, and Hindustan Times. He can be reached on Twitter @madversity. This is an opinion article and the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
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