As a result of historical Supreme Court verdict, Ram temple is all set to be constructed on the site where the 16th century – Babri Masjid stood until it was demolished in 1992. Since Supreme Court had handed the site to Hindus in 2019, the Bhoomi Pujan or the foundation-laying ceremony for the Ram temple is set to take place in Ayodhya Wednesday afternoon, in the presence of PM Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath. Though the Ram Janmabhoomi movement goes back centuries and has been mired with politics, controversies, legal issues and violence, finally a temple is going to be constructed at the disputed site.
The right-wing organizations of India and the devotees of Lord Ram stormed the Twitter with the hashtag “Jai Shri Ram” and by sharing pictures of Temple’s graphic model. Even the senior leader of BJP who played a key role in demolition of Babri Mosque by organizing Rath Yatra Mr.LK Dani also welcomed the move by saying “Ram Mandir will represent India as a strong, prosperous, harmonious nation”.
On other hand there were also others Twitter hashtags run from Tamil Nadu. The “Land of Raavanan” and “Tamils pride Raavanan” recorded as one of the top trends on Twitter on this historical day when the Ram Jenma Pujan is going to begin which caught the neck of majoritarian “Jai Shri ram” pride that demolished the Babri mosque. The Tamils who spread this hashtag with a specified reply to the majoritarian imperialists and to counter right wings of India. Raavan or Raavanan character in Ramayan who is considered as a Asura or Demon by majority Indians but predominantly celebrated by Tamils across Srilanka and Tamil Nadu who consider him a great emperor by opposing Ram inversely who was alleged as an advocate of untouchability of ancient times which made them spread the hashtag “the land of Raavanan”.
The existing Dravidian movements and the rise of Tamil Nationalistic movements in Tamil Nadu who allege that in Ramayan Tamil emperor, Raavan was always misinterpreted and abused for his appearance, language and his dark skin by tagging him as Asura, that is devil, where Tamil Nationalists consider Raavan being insulted simply for belonging to Dravidian race whereas Ram being praised for belonging to Aryan race.
This Twitter storm diverted the attention of majoritarian Ram devotees and thereby paved a way for another social media dispute. Some of the highlights were Naam Tamizhar Party presided by Tamil actor and director Mr.Seeman who praised Raavan by saying “Raavanan isn’t a devil with 10 heads but an emperor who is skilful in 10 types of ancient Tamil arts” and on other hand Pazhuthuvettarayar of Veera Tamilar Munnani who tweeted “This is Raavan’s land and better keep Ram out from here” and he added to stop Sanskritising the Tamil emperor Raavanan who was considered a devil in Ramayan but a hero in real.
At the same time If one keenly observes the state, the enmity for Lord Ram is nothing new in Tamil Nadu where it dates back to the time prior freedom struggle where the founder of Dravidar Kazhagam and the father of modern Tamil Nadu Periyar EV Ramasamy who constantly criticized lord Ram mentioning him an Aryan and enemy of Dravidians thereby established a base for opposite Dravidian politics in the Madras presidency. Followed by him DMK founder Mr.Annadurai and Former CM of Tamil Nadu Kalaignar Karunanidhi who also questioned the existence of Ram by saying “There is no one called Ram and I don’t know from where he might have studied engineering to construct Sethu (Bridge)” in an interview by Dhanya Rajendran NDTV.
Apart from this, the same state people run the hashtag saying ‘Go back Modi’ on Twitter whenever PM Modi visits Tamil Nadu. Such tweets from the people of Dravidian state in unique which grabbed the attention of majoritarian states and ended up with Ram-Raavan fight of the modern era.
Source: Gowtham K | Muslim Mirror
