Hindus gratefully remember how archaeologist KK Muhammed revealed what he had (along with B.B. Lal) found under the controvertial structure at Ram Janmabhoomi site – a Hindu temple, that too a Ram temple. This truth he revealed in a letter to the editor that he wrote to the Chennai New Indian Express daily. At that point of time he was serving as the Superintendent in the Archaeological Survey of India, Chennai.The erstwhile Government of India suspended K.K Muhammed for breach of service rules. In fact, his letter was a rejoinder to an article in the daily by epigraphy enthusiast Iravatham Mahadevan, IAS (Retd).. Quickly Mahadevan rushed to Muhammed’s help and managed to get the suspension order changed into a transfer order. K.K. Muhammed gratefully recalled this episode in a later day article. So, it was from Chennai that people of Bharat came to know the proven fact that Ram Temple existed under the controversial structure at Ayodhya.
Further back into time, in 1981 Lingam (deity) was re installed at Vellore Jalakanteshwara Shiva temple by a mass upsurge of Hindus. 400 years back, when Muslim invaders attacked, the Lingam was removed by Vellore devotees and kept hidden in a nearby village. Several attempts by the eminent people to re-install the Lingam had met with failure, with an atheist dispensation at state level and a pseudo secular dispensation at the Centre. Swayamsevaks spearheaded the people’s upsurge and the Lingam was successfully reinstalled. That rang quite a few bells in the conscience of Hindus across the country, culminating in the successful Ram Janmabhoomi campaign.
Another earlier – sordid – episode in Tamilnadu triggered formal launch of the modern day Ram Janmabhoomi liberation struggle. The 1980 mass conversion in Meenakshipuram (Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu) wherein 450 persons belonging to the SC community were lured into Islam with the help of petrodollars and jobs in Gulf countries, shocked Prime Minister Indira Gandhi – and she said so. But Sadhus who led Hindus were detrermined to unite Hindus against such onslaughts in future. Under the guidance of Ashok Singhal, they held a Dharma Sansad at Vigyan Bhavan in Delhi. It was at this coference that a formal demand was raised to liberate temples in Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura.
Repeatedly, as though by the inexplicable hand of Almighty, Tamil Nadu finds itself at the centre of the process leading to the national resurgence namely Ram Temple movement. In a lighter vein too!
Have a look at this piece of newspaper report: ” In March 2019, the Supreme Court referred the politically sensitive case (regarding Ramajanmabhoomi) for mediation and appointed retired apex court judge F.M Kalifulla as the head and senior advocate Sriram Panchu and spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar as two other members of the panel for the purpose. Kalifulla hails from Karaikudi in Sivaganga district while Ravi Shankar was born in Papanasam near Kumbakonam in Thanjavur district; Panchu is Chennai-based”, went on the report!!
