Demolition was complete, entire structure was wiped out. Outcome that followed was horrific. Communal riots in Bombay started in December, 1992, soon after the demolition of Babri mosque. There was no interruption. Follow up was destruction of more Mosques. People living there were left homeless and also lost their dear ones. That was the time that divisive politics started taking its roots in the country. And a wedge was sought to be created between majority and the minorities.
The Supreme Court conceded that the installation of the idol of Lord Rama under the main dome of the structure of the Mosque in 1949 and years later, its demolition in December, 1992 were both criminal acts. After a bizarre Supreme court decision in November 2019, the Mosque had indeed become a relic of the past and in 2020,those responsible for the demolition were acquitted by a special court in Lucknow, further burying justice.
On the thirty second anniversary of the shameful demolition of the Babri Masjid, we see that the Pandora’s box has been opened. There are several litigations by plaintiffs belonging to the majority community about alleged temples that are believed to have existed and lands occupied by mosques and Dargahs. Sambhal and Ajmer Sharif are latest instances. The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991, which put an end to all litigations concerning places of worship other than in Ayodhya, has been reduced to a scrap of paper. The oral observations of the Supreme court in the Gyanvapi case that the Act did not prohibit ascertainment of the character of a place of worship has created a new curiosity in the jurisdiction, which can now be readily invoked by those who want to find a temple under every mosque.
The demolition of the Babri Masjid was the biggest assault on our secular fabric. It remains to be a black spot in the history of modern India. It represented a dangerous moment when sectarian forces overwhelmed the rule of law, when mob violence triumphed over constitutional values, and when the inclusive vision was trampled. That has been the biggest assault on the secular democratic foundation of our country. December 6 is also a day associated with Dr Ambedkar, the architect of our Constitution. The secular democratic foundation of the Constitution was demolished on this day.
In fact, the Ram Temple movement of the Sangh Parivar was never really a religious movement. It was always about politics and power. Let us not forget that temple construction was a central promise that was featured in the BJP manifestos election after election for decades.
What has worsened the situation is the current government’s efforts to systematically subjugate independent institutions. The Election Commission, mainstream media and whole lot of other institutions have practically become a compliant tool in the hands of the government. The impartiality of judiciary is often called into question. The contradictions inherent in the Supreme Court’s 2019 decision on Babri Masjid or its interpretation of the Places of Worship Act of 1991 are burning examples.
These Supreme Court judgments mean that the Babri Masjid was not to be the only mosque to be captured by Hindu mobs; rather, it was only the first of many Muslim landmarks and monuments that were to follow. A list of such monuments marked for demolition has been in broad public circulation for quite some time.
As a result, the Hindu groups have started challenging the continuing existence of historic mosques in Mathura and Varanasi through court cases. And now, the Hindu communalists have begun their vicious campaigns against many other historic places of worship. This has become evident in the last couple of weeks when there have been campaigns against Sambhal’s Shahi Jama Masjid as well as the historic Jama Masjid in the national capital, Delhi, and the Ajmer Dargah in Rajasthan.
The demolition of Babri Masjid in fact has become a symbol of general collapse of institutions created to protect our democratic traditions. With the reigns of the government sliding into the hands of the Sangh Parivar in 2014, the cracks in the nation’s secular democratic system, are made visible by the demolition of the Babri Masjid.
In last ten years, the Sangh Parivar has decisively skewed from this mindset. Not only has it subverted the democratic institutions but also has sought to violently exclude minorities, especially Muslims, from the mainstream and create a political space in which the rights and freedoms of Hindu citizens are positioned above others.
There was also a massive flaw no one paid any attention to. A five member bench of the Supreme Court had taken a decision unanimously in 1994, but in 2019, its existence itself was ignored. There was no discussion the issue.
About the role of the Court to decide on the issues of mythological importance also, courts need not have a say. (IPA Service)
FROM BABRI MASJID DEMOLITION IN 1992 TO SAMBHAL IN 2024 - THE SAGA CONTINUING
TIME FOR SUPREME COURT TO ENFORCE PROVISIONS OF PLACES OF WORSHIP ACT, 1991
Krishna Jha - 2024-12-12 11:31
It was a huge pile of debris left on the ground where Babri Masjid, with its undeniable grandeur, stood. Space was slowly emptied, leaving behind a vast loneliness, desolate and wet. Nothing remained the same. It was not only an attack on a mosque, it injured our inheritance, inclusivity. Almost half of us lost the expanse that we had built up since centuries. Those responsible stand today merged with state, with majoritarian support. Whosoever stood up in search of justice, got lost in a crowd. Their defence became spontaneously defiance as once Maulana Abul Kalam Azad had said when he was falsely accused of sedition by British imperialism and was taken to the dock. He had told the court that it was only in battlefields and in court rooms, that greatest acts of injustice in the history generally have taken place.