Outlook Magazine cover - In The Name Of Ram Outlook Magazine cover - In The Name Of Ram Religious sites have always drawn people in search of faithcanalipg, but in today’s India, they also shape politics and the economy. Last year, when the Ram Lalla idol was consecrated in Ayodhya, it was not just about building a temple but about laying the foundation for a vast pilgrimage circuit. Power is exercised and manifested through religious tourism, encouraged and supported by the government, especially the central government, which inaugurated the Ram temple in Ayodhya just before the general elections in 2024.
This year Outlook’s latest issue explored the phenomenon of religious tourism in the country in the wake of the Maha Kumbh and the concerns it raises in an atmosphere charged with Hindu nationalism. An the beginning of last year, we dedicated an entire issue to Ayodhya, In The Name of Ram, as the consecration of the Ram Lalla idol in Ayodhya took place. It was when the Ram Janmabhoomi movement came full circle for the BJP after 40 years.
5sbet The Pilgrim's Progress: Outlook’s Next Issue On Religious TourismIn that issue, social historian Badri Narayan wrote in an op-ed that the BJP is likely to gain the largest share of the political capital generated by the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. He argued that it could help mobilise voters, particularly Hindu voters, in favour of the BJP.
Snigdhendu Bhattacharya examined a decade of Hindu Rashtra conferences in Goa, looking at which of their goals have been achieved and what remains.
Former Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Nirupam wrote that the Pran Pratistha ceremony of Ram’s idol in Ayodhya has reshaped the political landscape. He noted that while following Hindu traditions in governance is now a common trend, its foundation was laid as early as 1986. Constitutionally, governments in India are not supposed to follow any particular religious tradition since the country is a secular state. But,66br Cassinos ao Vivo Brasil he argued, that no longer seems to be the case.
Indian Muslims, going by the Sachar Committee Report, are defined by those having low income, high illiteracy, widespread poverty, irregular source of income, poor health records and quite a low morale. To understand Muslim marginalisation, it is also imperative to explore their class-compositions intermeshing with their caste-categories, so to say, to locate the circle within circles. Muslims in India are possibly imagined as a monolithic religious minority, but empirically they are quite a diversified and heterogeneous community, notably more in the anthropological/sociological sense. They are differentiated along ethnic and socio-cultural lines into various groups and sub-groups and also in caste and tribe groups. Their stratified social order is akin to any other religious community in India and that makes them a bit unique when compared to their counterparts in Islamic countries and elsewhere. Their diversity, and the large-scale subalternity, drives us to make an effort to know them from below.
The judgement is justified both on constitutional and academic grounds. However, a close look reveals that the academic arguments were mostly based on assumptions without much empirical evidence, resulting in a weak academic justification of the judgement. We will therefore assess the validity of the judgement from only the academic point of view.
Read these and more in the latest issue of Outlook.canalipg