Reema Shaukat
THE sixth of December is the day to recall history when Babri Mosque in India was demolished in 1992. Almost 28 years have gone since the demolition of Babri Mosque but still today it awaits for its decision. There have been several adjourned sessions by Indian Supreme and High Courts on the matter of Babri Mosque but yet no outcome has been announced after several years of its annihilation which shows Indian mindset and non-seriousness towards the sentiments of Muslims living particularly in India and all around. Often Hindu extremists gather in large number to crunch Muslims and show them their strength to build temple on the site of Babri Mosque.
The Babri Mosque issue is vital to understand the Hindu belligerence and militancy that has left thousands dead in India in the past many decades. Babri Masjid has been a source of Hindu extremist mobilization for the last 20 years. Babri Masjid is a three-dome mosque structure in Faizabad/Ayodhya which was established in 1526 by Mughal Emperor Babur. Hindus claim that the Babri Masjid was built where the Ram Janamabhoomi Temple was once stood. In 1885, some Hindus filed a claim in the country’s British colonial courts that this mosque had been forcibly built by Muslims after demolishing a Hindu temple built on the birth site of their god Rama. Their plea for restoration was denied by the court on the grounds that the petitioner had been unable to substantiate the claim. But the battle was not yet over. After India’s independence from British colonial rule in the late 1940s, the District Magistrate of Faizabad (where this structure is located) informed higher authorities in December 1949 that “a few Hindus entered Babri Masjid at night when the Masjid was deserted and installed a goddess there. Police picket of fifteen persons was on duty at night but did not apparently act.” The District Magistrate of Faizabad, Mr Nayar, admitted his responsibility and was asked to resign. However, Nayar’s dangerous and irresponsible action did not seem to bother India’s ruling Congress Party at that time. They gave him a seat in parliament (Lok Sabha). Moreover, instead of removing the idol and restoring the mosque to its custodians, the Sunni Waqf Board, it was locked. In addition, an official receiver, a Hindu, and a priest (also Hindu) were appointed to look after the place.
Muslims, filed suit in the court — where it had been lying for almost a decade. But that was not the end of the matter. Almost 40 years later, Babri Masjid resurfaced as a symbol of Hindu militancy, as groups representing this dangerous ideology, which seeks to exclude non-Hindus from the vision of a “Mother India”, launched a movement for its restoration. In December 1985, a Hindu delegation called on the state of Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Minister, serving him notice that the temple must be handed over to them by 8 March 1986, otherwise they would forcibly occupy it. On 11 February 1986, the Faizabad district opened so as to let the Hindus exercise their “constitutional right” to worship. A report suggests that Minister Arun Nehru masterminded this coup. Up to this point, the situation was tense, but no major violence had yet erupted. This was to be in December 1992, when hundreds of thousands of Hindu militants mobilized by Vishwa Hindu Parshad (VHP) and led by L K Advani, stormed Babri Masjid and demolished it. This sparked serious protests by Muslims, police firings, and then Hindu-Muslim riots. Thousands lost their lives in the violence.
Recently this year on 30th of September, 2020, Indian special CBI court in Lucknow acquitted and cleared blameless all those 32 accused in the 28-year-old Babri demolition case. India always know when and how to use religious card. The convicted were acquitted in Babri Mosque trials on the pretext of lack of evidence. It seems Indian Hindu majority always tries to use religious face. It was during and after the opening ceremony of Kartarpur Corridor in Pakistan, that India objected this peace vista between two countries. Likewise, Sikhs and Muslims living in India do not enjoy the freedom to practise their religious obligations and mythologies. They often are bound to Indian orders, which is making India a secular fanatic country. On the 6th of December 1992 Babri Mosque was demolished and since the demolition of Babri Mosque, Indian courts every time order stays at the decision but when the opening of Kartarpur Corridor in Pakistan was announced on the 9th of November 2019, Indian court announced the verdict on Babri Mosque. Thus, showing how to divert world media attention from Pakistan’s interfaith harmony efforts and peace between India and Pakistan but India by doing this exposed its religious mindset on the basis of Hindu fanaticism.
Indian Supreme Court on 9 November 2019 awarded Hindus control of a disputed religious site in the town of Ayodhya for the construction of a temple Ram Mandir and announced that the Muslims will be given five acres of land at an alternative site in Ayodhya, in northern Uttar Pradesh state. Modi on this decision tweeted that the halls of justice have amicably concluded a matter going on for decades. Every side, every point of view was given adequate time and opportunity to express differing points of view. This verdict will further increase people’s faith in judicial processes. And this time, Indian Special CBI court gave a clean chit to those who carried Rath Yatra, instigated riots, demolished mosque, celebrated the demolition and later admitted their roles in doing so. Everything was on record but this does not matter to fascists in India and shows biased judiciary and its failed system. India must not be let free on communal violence instigated by anyone. Likewise RSS and other extremist elements must be checked and controlled to reduce communal riots and human rights violations.
—The Islamabad-based writer works as Senior Coordinator at PAYF.
