Funny that one remembers the intellectual giant Ambedkar and the fundamentally pacifist and progressive (for its time) Buddhism on the same day as the anti-intellectual dwarfs of the BJP & VHP and their animalistic, regressive, and violent vandalism: 6th December.
Ironically, the demolition of the Babri Masjid on live TV, witnessed by the entire world (in horror) by a rabidly anti-Muslim, uneducated and uncultured mob insisting on reverting to the fundamental tenets of their religion and its symbols & icons, reminded me of the Taliban’s destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas on live TV, witnessed by the entire world (in horror) by a rabidly pro-Muslim, uneducated and uncultured mob insisting on reverting to the fundamental tenets of their religion and its supposed opposition to symbols and icons. And yes, the irony was complete the day the ASI and other agencies authorised to dig under the Babri rubble discovered seemingly Buddhist ruins & relics.
If Ambedkar were alive, I’d not blame him for wondering if he wasted his time trying to civilise this country with his masterpiece that we all vowed and promised to live by back in January of 1949. And I don’t even wish to hypothesise what Buddha would have thought about all this were he around to see it.
