Today, I am writing about an incident which happened in a recent past but after the incident happened it’s repercussion is being felt even today and Indian polity scene changed considerably after that.
Babri Masjid Demolition
According to Hindu belief Ayodhya is birth place of lord Rama. In the 16th century a Mughal General on the order of Emperor Babar broke that temple and built a Mosque(Masjid) at that place. There is a belief that the site where temple was located was actual place where Rama was born. For last 4 centuries this place was used as religious place by both Hindus & Muslims. History has recorded a first communal violence at this site in 1859, after which British ruler put up a fencing in the outer yard to avoid the conflict. The status quo remained till 1949, when suddenly statues of Rama were found inside the complex. It was alleged that these were placed by volunteers of Hindu Mahasabha. This led to mayhem, and both the parties filed a civil suit laying claim to the proposed land. The site was declared in dispute and gates were locked.
In the mid 80s when Rajiv Gandhi govt allowed the shilanyas of the temple, there was big uproar by Muslims. Hindu Mahasabha, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and other like minded parties picked up the issue of Ram temple, and BJP as a political party also entered the fray and took up this issue.Till that time BJP, after separating from Janata Party was in doldrums with no clear cut ideology of the party.
In 1990 BJP Leader LK Advani began a Rath Yatra for hindu nationalist movement, and this yatra from Somnath was to culminate in Ayodhya, but he was arrested in Bihar and Rath Yatra was stopped. This led to BJP withdrawing support to VPSingh Govt.
On 6th Dec 1992 large crowd of Hindu Kar Sewaks( rough estimate was 150,000 people) assembled at Ayodhya. This rally was organized by RSS and its allied groups including BJP, the rally was basically a show of strength and forcing the govt to agree for building of Ram Mandir at disputed site. The rally was addressed by BJP leaders like LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharati & others. Police had cordoned off the Masjid area, but suddenly in the afternoon one Kar Sewak slipped the Police Cordon and reached the top of Masjid dome,brandishing the Saffron Flag. This was seen as a signal by the mob, who then rushed inside Masjid area . The police cordon, was outnumbered and unprepared for the size of the attack, fled. The mob set upon the building with axes, hammers, and grappling hooks, and within a few hours, the entire mosque was leveled . It was assumed the Kar Sewaks had come prepared to raze the Masjid. Kar Sewaks also destroyed numerous other mosques within the town.
It was mayhem every where. UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh resigned immediately, citing the reason that he is taking moral responsibility that his govt could not save the structure. Atal Bihari Vajpayee apologized in the Parliament on this issue. All the pseudo secularist parties started blaming PV Narsimharao for his failure in protecting the structure. There was wide spread criticism by Islamic countries on India’s failure to save the structure which was destroyed by radical elements.
The destruction of Babri Masjid structure , sparked Muslim out rage around the country, provoking several months of inter communal riots, in which both communities attacked each other, burning, looting homes & shops, attacking places of worship. Several BJP leaders were arrested and VHP was briefly banned by Central Govt. Communal riots spread to Cities of Bombay, Surat, Ahmedabad, Kanpur, Delhi, Bhopal and many other small cities. This resulted in deaths of more than 2000 people. The Bombay riots alone which happened in Dec 1992 and Jan 1993, and in which Shiv Sena claimed to play a major part, resulted in death of around 900 people, and it was estimated that the property damage was around Rs 10,000 crore. The Babri Masjid demolition and riots were major factors behind the Bombings in Bombay in 1993, which was engineered by Indian as well as outside Jehadi groups.
The demolition of the masjid was one of the major factor for the increase of terrorism in India and infiltration of terrorists from the neighbouring country.
Aftermath demolition, there were many lawsuits for the claim of land where the masjid was located. All the cases were clubbed together in Allahabad high Court. Few years back HC gave the judgement, where it allotted 2/3rd of land to Hindu claimants and 1/3rd to Muslim claimants. Basically Muslim claimants did not agree with the decision and as of now matter is in Supreme Court. It has become a major political issue, and no body knows what will be reaction of losing party and how India’s polity will change after the verdict of SC..\
Waiting for your views/comments/feed backs on this blog.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
29th Jan 2019.
Bobby
There are two issues here: One is the original court case of the disputed site, and bringing to an end this dispute. Two; bringing the culprits of the demolition to face the law and all the repercussions that happened.