Tearing down the Babri Mosque

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By Waqar Ahmed

The month of December brings back memories of the gory incident of demolition of Babri Mosque in India. As it is, on December 6, 1992, a large gathering of extremist Hindus completely demolished the Mughal era 464-year-old Babri Masjid erected by the emperor Babar in Ayodhya. The demolition reportedly occurred after a rally supporting the movement turned violent after a guarantee from the state government to the Indian Supreme Court that the mosque would not be demolished. It has been reported through a sting operation, conducted on 23 key people of the Ram Janambhoomi movement, that "the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, was elaborately planned by various wings of Sangh Parivar and executed with precision by trained volunteers. It wasn't, as it is claimed, a case of mob frenzy going out of control, leading to the fall of the disputed 16th Century structure."

Posing as a would-be-author researching his book on the Ayodhya movement, "Cobrapost associate editor K Ashish travelled to Ayodhya, Faizabad, Tanda, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Mathura, Moradabad in UP, Jaipur, Aurangabad, Mumbai and Gwalior interviewing 23 of those who participated in the operation. He clandestinely recorded conversations with them. If what they claim is true, the Ram Janambhoomi leaders and activists toiled secretly for months on a plan codenamed 'Operation Janmabhoomi' and executed it with military precision. Volunteers were trained, logistics painstakingly put in place and the assault on the disputed shrine launched using large surging crowds with volunteers skilled in demolishing structures embedded in it. Not only do those interviewed spell out details of the planning, they also allegedly reveal how enthusiastic young participants were deliberately used as cannon fodder by provoking a police firing on kar sevaks in 1990 because of the belief of some leaders that the movement would not gather steam unless 'some Hindus die'."

The demolition, in a historical and political context, was originally manipulated by the British who constructed a fence around the mosque and gave the order that Muslims and Hindus would use separate gates for entrance. This led to petitions that led to claims of Babri Mosque being a Hindu temple. The demolition ultimately led to several months of inter-communal rioting between Hindus and minority Muslim communities, causing the death of around 2,000 people, mostly Muslims.

Meanwhile, an Indian court this year acquitted top leaders of the governing BJP “of any wrongdoing” in the destruction of the historic mosque. The court acquitted 32 of the 49 people charged, 17 had died while the case was under way. It claimed there was insufficient evidence to prove the demolition had been planned.

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board said it would appeal against the ruling in the high court. "There were police officers, government officials and senior journalists who appeared as witnesses. What about their testimony? The court should have said whether these eyewitnesses were lying," the board's lawyer, Zafaryab Jilani, told the international media. Congress party's Randeep Surjewala called it an "egregious violation of the law" that ran counter to "the constitutional spirit", and Sitaram Yehchury, from the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said it was a complete travesty of Justice.

Soon afterwards, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for a Hindu temple at the disputed site.

Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha had admitted to The Sunday Observer of December 14, 1992, after the demolition of Babri mosque: “India is being pushed back into the dark ages by obscurantist, fundamentalist and fascist forces. Their appeasement… has today given them the strength and the audacity to seek to destroy the very basis of our nation state…. [T]he secular forces will have to unitedly and determinedly meet this challenge if India is to survive as a democratic, secular, progressive, liberal and modern nation.” India’s dark ages are already here under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.