94 "Presenting'' the Past
Maharashtra, insisted on worshipping Ram, spreading the message of
Ram through institutions, and building temples for Ram in order to build
Ramarajya. Talking of a Maharashtrian village that reminds of Ramarajya,
the RSS general secretary, H. V Seshadri, describes the various features of
it and the different activities undertaken by the villagers: total prohibition,
abolition of untouchability, ban on smoking, conflict resolution by the vil-
lage committee, and developmental activities such as setting up a school,
digging community wells, and so forth. Nonetheless, the reconstruction
of the village temple was the "very first project" as it was "the focal point
of devotion for the entire village."^89 This village Ramarajya had two other
appealing characteristics for the RSS leader. First, the village reformer is
said to have claimed, "There are Jains, Buddhists and other Hindus but
no Muslims or Christians in our village." Second, the village had regis-
tered bodies for irrigation, educational development, and other areas, but
"there are no elections for any of these bodies." Even the chairman and
the vice chairman of the village are "unanimously selected by the Grama
Sabha" (village council).^90
These kinds of shallow, hateful, and totalitarian tendencies marked their
understanding of Ramarajya when the BJP established their rule in four
northern states in 1991. One of the first things they did was amending the
UP Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act. In fact, cow slaughter had already
been banned in 1955, but the amendment extended the ban to oxen and
buffalo, tinned beef, and eating any of these meats in trains and planes in
UP. The penalties for violation were also raised from a fine of Rs. 1,000 and
two years of rigorous imprisonment to a fine of Rs. 10,000 and seven years
of imprisonment. Although the president of India put the amendment on
hold, the UP government abused it to implicate entire Muslim villages
in false cases.^91 In almost all cases, it was the RSS workers who informed
the police that a cow had been slaughtered by Muslims. The police would
arrive, find no evidence, and conclude that the crime did take place but
the evidence was destroyed. Then large numbers of Muslims would be
arrested, their homes and shops burned, and Muslim women molested.^92
In fact, soon after the BJP came to power, the Muslim exodus from the
Hindu-dominated villages began.^93 The UP Minority Commission that
was to study and recommend solutions to the socioeconomic and educa-
tional problems of Muslims and other minorities was abolished. The sec-
ond official-language status accorded to Urdu was scrapped. There were
incessant communal riots around the state in Varanasi, Meerut, Jabalpur,
Hapur, and so on. The Hindu communal elements enjoyed the patron-
age of the state and police, and Muslims were terrorized and intimidated.
There were a dozen cases of death in police custody during the first 16
months of "BJP Ramarajya," and all but one were Muslims.^94
On the other hand, an exorbitant amount of Rs. 18.6 crore (186 million)
was allotted for the "beautification of Ayodhya," and the scrutiny of the
breakdown of expenses revealed that Rs. 6.5 crore (65 million) was unac-