Ram-lila & Red Fort - The Larger Issues Of National Regeneration And Governance

Jagmohan
The Statesman, 19 October

While functioning as minister for culture and tourism, I had conceived a project called “Rebirth of Red Fort”. One of the features of this project was the provision of two green wings to the fort, one in the rear and other in the front, to enable it to fly into the future with grace and confidence. The attempt was to ensure that the fort was effectively preserved for generations to come and its environment was made more pleasing. The project soon fructified. And two glorious parks emerged on the scene.

The development of these parks and other improvement schemes, carried out in and around the monument, were hailed by the then Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, in his message delivered to the nation on 15 August 2003 from the rampart of the fort. He urged the people to emulate this fine example and take care of national heritage. Shortly afterwards, the Red Fort was included in the UNESCO’s list of world heritage sites ~ a status that had earlier been denied to it on account of its shoddy maintenance and slummy environment, though no less an authority than Ferguson had described it as “the most magnificent palace in the East ~ perhaps in the world”.

The heritage

To highlight hitherto little recognised aspects of the heritage associated with the Red Fort, the front and rear parks were named by me as August 15 Park and Delhi Chalo Park respectively. The former commemorates the annual event of the national message being given to the people by the Prime Minister and the latter symbolises the great slogan of the Indian National Army organised by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose in the course of our freedom struggle. To ensure strict observance of law relating to the “protected monuments” and to prevent any damage being done to these parks, holding of any function or raising of structure therein was prohibited. The prohibition has been in force since 2002-03. Unfortunately, this year staging of Ram Lilas in the August 15 Park are being permitted. Petty politics seem to have prevailed.

The permission would badly damage the August 15 Park especially its sophisticated lighting-system which makes the fort and its surroundings sparkle at night. The 1.7-km-long moat from which about 23,000 cubic metres of slushy and stinking garbage, with a load of 3,500 trucks, was removed under the Project Rebirth, is bound to become dirty again. The perforated pathways, flagstones, railings and underground ducts would be virtually destroyed.

Undoubtedly holding of annual Ram Lilas is also the most treasured part of our noble and elevating heritage. But, in the context of this case, the key question is whether the group rivalries amongst the organisers of different Ram Lilas should be allowed to cause violation of the Protected Monuments Rules and whether the country should run the risk of getting the Red Fort deleted from the list of the World Heritage Sites. As many Ram Lilas as are required to be staged for the inhabitants of the walled city can be staged in the Ram Lila ground or Parade ground or in what is called “T5 area” near Daryaganj.

Earlier, in the 1990s the governments of the day had been remiss in obtaining UNESCO’s recognition for a number of its deserving monuments. In 1972, the UNESCO adopted a convention “concerning the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage”. In accordance with this convention, it started the practice of calling for nominations for inscriptions of monuments and sites for inclusion in the World Heritage List. By virtue of its vast cultural wealth, India should have succeeded in securing inclusion of a very large ~ perhaps the maximum ~ number of monuments in the list. But their poor upkeep stood in the way.

From the year 2000, the UNESCO imposed a limit of entertaining one nomination per year from each country. India has thus suffered a permanent loss, both in fame and fortune. In comparison, other countries, much smaller in size and with less architectural wealth, had got many more sites included. For example, the West European countries ~ the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, the Vatican, Germany, Austria and Belgium ~ which, put together, have an area equivalent to India, were able to secure inclusion of as many as 153 sites in the list. At present, out of 812 sites on the World Heritage List, only 26 are Indian.

Unfortunately, we, as a nation, have largely remained oblivious of the fact that preservation of past assets ensures that heritage is passed on intact to children and grandchildren. Culture, history, and tradition always go hand in hand, and every creative work of the age reflects its inner urges, its vitality and its special characteristics. That is why even one of the greatest revolutionaries of all time, Lenin, had strongly advised his countrymen: “Fellow citizens, do not touch even one stone ... the old buildings, articles, documents; all this is your history, your pride.”

India’s proclivity to destroy her own heritage was noted by Lord Curzon in his address to the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1900: “Here, the dynasties did not spare their own members, nor religions their own shrines”. He greatly appreciated the worth of what remained. Later on, he wrote: “As a pilgrim at the shrine of beauty I have visited them, but as a priest in the temple of duty have I charged myself with their reverent custody and their studious repairs”.

Cruzon enacted the Ancient Monument Act of 1904 and laid the foundation of a scientific policy of protecting and preserving the archaeological assets of India. The country owes a deep debt to him. Jawaharlal Nehru, who was otherwise a stringent critic of Curzon, said: “After every other Viceroy has been forgotten, Curzon will be remembered because he restored all that was beautiful in India.” Today, we have as many as 3606 monuments protected under the Act.

Nehru himself was highly sensitive to the need for preserving “all that has evoked human genius and inspired human faith.” When, in the 1950s, a buried city emerged during the process of building a huge irrigation reservoir at Nagarjunakoda, he saw to it that all the valuable relics of the past were saved and kept on a little island in the centre of the lake. Indira Gandhi, too, deeply appreciated the importance of our heritage. When Devraj Urs, former chief minister of Karnataka, impelled by narrow political considerations, recommended to her that prayers should be allowed in the protected Golkonda mosques, she politely but firmly declined.

Petty politics

The enlightened impulse provided by the likes of Curzon, Nehru and Indira Gandhi got weakened over the years, and the culture of governance was increasingly poisoned by the petty and populous politics. Huge “warehouses of bonded voters”, in the shape of squatters and slum settlements, were built around the protected monuments which were even exploited for personal commercial gains. When, after becoming minister for culture and tourism, I visited them, I found that most of them had been encroached upon. The foothills of the world famous Ajanta-Ellora caves were littered with numerous shabby stalls and ugly structures of tin and cardboard. The Humayun tomb had about 600 jhuggis within its complex and Quila Rai Pethora had virtually disappeared under a huge cluster of slums. I salvaged the position by removing the squatters and resettling them elsewhere. The monuments were cleared, restored, conserved and upgraded environmentally. I ignored the cacophony of the vested interests. I knew that nothing worthwhile could be achieved in present day India if petty politics were allowed to dominate our public life and if larger issues of national regeneration and firm governance were lost sight of. Should we now allow negative forces in society to undo whatever little positive work has been done? And should we forget the true Indian vision and reduce everything to the immediate, as our politics is currently doing?

The author is a former Governor of J&K and a former union minister of culture and tourism