However, it doesn’t matter any more. Dr Bhaskar has come to my aid like a messenger from God. He does a lot of social work here. Part of his work is looking after the elderly, living alone like me. I will not list here the many things he has done for me and others in the town after he came.

Dr Bhaskar is steeped in the knowledge of Hinduism. He admires Gandhiji as your father did, but believes that, despite being himself a good Hindu, he took Muslims and Christians to his heart for political ends. When a Hindu shows a preference for people of other religions over his, flames of anger are bound to leap up in the Hindu heart and violence, which he abhorred, is bound to follow. Dr Bhaskar believes our religion is tolerant. But that does not mean we will accept proselytizers luring our people to their religions. Tolerance is not to be mistaken for cowardice.

Dr Bhaskar, who thinks and speaks with great clarity and a complete grasp of today’s reality, says what Hindustan needs today is not Gandhi but Shri Ramachandra. Lord Ramachandra forms the very foundation of our culture. He was a king committed to one wife, a king who was bound by his word, a king who stood for truth. He honoured his father to the extent that he endured fourteen long years of exile in forests, exposed to rain and sun, to honour his word. He was a true democrat before we had even heard the word democracy. It was on the word of a subject, a dhobi, that he abandoned his beloved wife. Only this avatar of Vishnu can show our westward-bowing young generation and our forest-dwelling brethren, who convert to other religions for money, the path of truth. Unlike Gandhiji, Lord Ramachandra found it unnecessary to indulge in outlandish experiments to arrive at truth. He was himself Truth incarnate.

The people of Surgaon have been deeply stirred by Dr Bhaskar’s speeches. I am completely convinced by how vital Lord Ramachandra is for our country and our people today. Therefore, I had no hesitation in agreeing to Dr Bhaskar’s suggestion that the dilapidated Gandhi mandir should be demolished and a splendid marble Ram mandir built in its place.

The first hammer fell on the Gandhi mandir today in the presence of a huge crowd of townspeople. I cannot deny that I felt a twinge when I heard that sound. But Dr Bhaskar calmed my doubts by reminding me that only the destruction of the old can create space for the construction of the new. When your father himself felt no qualms in abandoning his Gandhi mandir, why should we have qualms about letting this empty symbol of his faith and ideals go?