The ‘Wrongs’ of the Hindu Right: Ram Ke Naam (‘In the Name of God’, 1992) as Resistance

Abstract

With the Hindu Right ascending to power in India, the use of anti-colonial metrics to discourage and disregard Muslim presence in the subcontinent has exponentially increased as well. This paper, while analysing Anand Patwardhan’s documentary Ram Ke Naam (‘In the Name of God’, 1992), brings to the fore the perplexing state of postcolonial affairs in India. It uses Ram Ke Naam as a tool of resistance against the false, exhilarating, and anti-Muslim narratives curated by the Hindu right for maintaining their electoral and political dominance. This essay does a close reading of certain excerpts from the documentary, clinically analysing the events leading up to the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992, reiterating their unpretentious reality. It also highlights the politicised divide between Hindi and Urdu to position the Indian Muslim experience. The author uses his own experiential imprints and reflexivity to foreground Muslim voices in the India of today.