Religion has been reduced to a weapon in modern India.
The Babri Masjid demolition of December 6, 1992 wreaked havoc across India. At a glance it was just a violent communal episode in itself. On deeper analysis, one finds that the seeds of the 1993 Mumbai riots and the 2002 Gujarat mayhem lay here.
Liberhan Committee report
Sadly even today, the BJP top brass talks of the Ayodhya Movement. No lessons have been learnt and that is the worse tragedy. After Liberhan Committee’s report was leaked to the media, politics is being played over who slipped out the report rather than its findings.
It was also politics at work which lead to the eventual demolition of the mosque.
The argument over the leakage would be relevant if they dispute the findings.
Leaders are creating a ruckus and allegedly hinting that the slip was a handiwork of the Congress that could not see an opposition party standing united against price rise and other issues.
These are concerns that can be addressed later. What needs attention right now is the fallout of the report and what sentiments it arouses after the debate in Parliament is complete.
Conspicuous among the 68 who have been indicted by Justice Liberhan are L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Atal Behari Vajpayee.
What the leaders must question is what was it that took a span of 17 long years for Justice Liberhan to deliver? Why was Vajpayee not summoned even once in this time period? And also what is it that seals the lips of the panel when it comes to accusing the late Congress Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi?
The politics behind the demolition
With all due respect to the departed soul, it was actually the late Congress Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi whose one action was to result in an irreligious act, the ramifications of which are in some way visible even today.
In 1985, when in the Shah Bano case, Rajiv tried to please the Muslim voter, he tried to balance out his action by trying to appease the Hindus. And that was why the Prime Minister ordered unlocking to take place and a shilanayas of the temple to be organised.
This was what laid the basis of everything that followed.
The destruction of the mosque was a well-planned conspiracy which was not hatched overnight. One by one things happened which led to the final event the planning for which had begun ten months before the fateful day. Advani’s Rath Yatra which began in 1990 was a precursor to that gory episode.
The aim was to polarise voters on communal lines and the goal was political power.
In the General Election that ensued in 1996, the BJP came to power. The Congress suffered an embarrassing defeat. The victor thought that they drew the aces. And sure enough the tide brought them to power, but the party couldn’t complete its term.
Then later Atal Bihari was once more at the helm from 1998 to 1999, for an even shorter period. It was only in 1999 that he completed his five-year prime ministerial tenure.
In his infamous speech when he said that the Supreme Court has not prohibited the holding of bhajan and kirtan at the site, the leader had added, “Bhajan is not done by a single individual. It is done collectively… There are sharp-edged boulders there and no one can sit on that. So the ground has to be leveled…."
This verifies the viewpoint that the kar sevaks were protected by a political cushion and that’s the sole reason that emboldened them to take such a drastic step. Considering the fact that Vajpayee exerted such a great influence at the time, he can’t be absolved of blame on the mere ground that the politician was not present in Ayodhya at the time.
Not summoning him saying that it was too late to do so is not an argument.
After the demolition, it is true that the move was politically beneficial in some ways. But what has happened to the party today surely is not an overnight happening.
At that time it was easy to shout Ek Dhakka Aur Do, Babri Masjid Tod Do. Now that the Pandora’s Box is about to open the party is jittery. India has moved on. BJP is yet to reinvent itself.
What Hindutva do they propagate? That it is a religious tenet that permits a violent act? Is this not demeaning their own ideology and thus tarnishing their self-image?
The historical background:
1992 was not the only year that the Babri Masjid came to limelight. The controversy is ages old. It is said that when Babur invaded India, he ordered the construction of mosques at the places the temples existed and Ayodhya’s Babri Masjid was one such outcome. This was built in 1527. It is said that a temple existed here before. But this point is debatable.
History has it that upto 1855, Hindus and Muslims both offered prayers at the building. But after the 1857 mutiny, Hindus were barred to enter the inner yard. In 1883 appeals to construct a temple at the disputed site were dismissed.
But on December 1949, when the police guards were asleep, idols of Rama and Sita were quietly erected inside the mosque. Subsequently a mob of Hindus tried to enter but quick action was taken and the gate was secured and locked with a powerful lock. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru ordered that the statues be removed, but due to fear of retaliation by the Hindus, the order was not carried out.
The volatility existed from the beginning. But in modern India, it was only due to political protection that the issue got revived and frenzy was incited by the people in power.
Some events of the day
L K Advani meets others at Vinay Katiyar's residence.
They proceed towards the masjid.
Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Vinay Katiyar reach puja platform.
In a carefully planned move, Advani and Joshi check arrangements and then move 200 m away to the Ram Katha Kunj where a dais had been erected.
The move was initiated by a teenaged Kar Sevak and the breaking of the outer cordon began.
In what seemingly began as a political rally developed into a frenzy involving about 150,000 people. The ensuing riots in major Indian cities like Mumbai and Delhi claimed 2000 lives.
Trying to solve
That there was indeed a conspiracy executed meticulously is evident when requests made to contain the agitation were feeble. Besides, how could Central government’s forces be prevented from stopping the same. The Union is stronger than the state after all.
The report notes, "This selected act of the leaders itself speaks of the hidden intentions of one and all being to accomplish demolition of the disputed structure." Justice Liberhan asserts, the "icons of the movement present at the Ram Katha Kunj... could just as easily have... prevented the demolition."
It is not just the BJP to be blamed here though that party acted in direct tandem. The Union government led by the Congress then must also be held responsible in the same manner. The then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao was supposedly asleep.
In looking for a long-term solution, it may be a good idea to end the Ayodhya dispute now. One can’t wait for the conclusion of an inconclusive debate.
Since the cat is out, the only rational answer for the BJP is to apologise like the ruling party did for the 1984 riots. And then move on to become a 21st century party with 21st century issues on the agenda.
(The views expressed by the author in the blog are his/her own)