Indians Eat, Read And Sleep Religion

[gupt faujaan]

Indians eat, read and sleep religion

IANS

NEW DELHI: Indians find it easier to reach god than have access to a school or hospital. India has more public places of worship - of its multiple faiths - than schools, colleges, hospitals and dispensaries put together.

And there is at least one place of religious worship at every kilometre of the country's road network of 2.4 million kilometres.

According to a wide-ranging survey by the Census of India, there are some 2.4 million places of worship in the country, as against 1.5 million schools and colleges and a mere 600,000 hospitals and dispensaries.

So if religion is the opium of the masses, millions of Indians are inhaling deeply.

Ranging from little painted stones in tree-shades to palatial complexes, these shrines dot the Indian landscape at regular intervals, commanding the devotion of countless worshippers.

The basic coloured stone idol, stained profusely with turmeric and vermilion, is a familiar sight while driving down Indian roads.

Hundreds of thousands of mosques, churches and gurdwaras, or Sikh shrines - small and big - also dot the Indian landscape.

Religion is a way of life for many Indians, but religious shrines appear to be now dominating governance, taking precedence over socio-development and economic issues.

To many it is no wonder that successive governments have been grappling over the Ayodhya temple-mosque dispute that has preoccupied Parliament sessions, elections and political discourse.

"This highlights the shortcoming in our social planning and structure," economist Pradeep Srivastava told IANS.

Srivastava, a senior consulta

nt with the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), said it was important to think about development policies and achievements, which were "sadly inadequate".

"The fact is that an illiterate person is happy to put whatever money he has in a temple. Indeed, there are many more temples than the Census has identified, as many people have temples in their own homes."

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is pushing for support to legislation to build a temple where the 16th-century Babri mosque stood before a Hindu mob razed it in 1992 claiming the site to be the birthplace of Lord Ram.

Former Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi remarked this week that there was hardly a need for a temple in Ayodhya since there were "hundreds of temples for Ram throughout India and in Ayodhya too".

It was time, he added, to address many burning issues.

According to political analyst V B Singh, many villages have more than one religious shrine but the government had not been able to provide one school per village.

"Temples and mosques do not require so many permits," said Singh, who is with the Centre for study of Developing Societies. "People are free to create places of worship. This is their easiest penance as most people are god-fearing".

But a lot of land grabbing also goes in the name of religious places, pointed out eminent lawyer Rajeev Dhawan.

"The problem is not religiosity but greed and political obsession," said Dhawan, citing the example of the Ayodhya tangle.

"Under the garb of religion, people indulge in property grabbing, injury and violence to people. These are the people who push communal hatred for political purposes."

Chaitri Dua, a call centre professional, voiced the sentiments of many wearied citizens as she suggested that the Ayodhya spot along the Saryu river should be given to neither Hindus nor Muslims.

"It should be handed over for a hospital

or a school - that would be an example for thousands of other hospitals as donors would think twice before investing in religious buildings," said Dua.

Not everyone agrees, especially the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) that prides itself as the patron of the Ayodhya temple movement.

"The Ayodhya temple is not to be counted with others - it is a symbol of national pride, a shrine for a national hero," VHP leader Vireshwar Dwivedi told IANS with some irritation.

Dwivedi did not think it strange that India should have more religious institutions than all others put together.

"Why not? India is a religious country; people get satisfaction from worshiping god. For our well-being we have to have such shrines. Of course, there is nothing wrong with having some more schools and hospitals," said the VHP leader

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