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Wednesday 6 October 2010

Verdict on Babri Masjid - Victory for Hindu Fanaticism




In a  shocking  verdict  marking the collapse of Indian  democracy and judiciary the  Allahabad Court  on offered  two third of the  2.77 acre  Babri Masjid  to Hindus and one third to the Muslim on  Thursday 30 September 2010.     

This judgment   appears to have been written by Hindu fanatic Rastriya Swayam Sevak, RSS, whose declared agenda has been to wipe out Islam and Muslims from India in its drive to set up its version of Hinduraj- not based on Hindu dharma as taught by Vedas but by means of ruthless violence against Muslims.

The verdict which shattered the oppressed, sidelined and helpless Indian Muslims any hope of justice also stated that the crucial area under the central dome of the mosque   where Lord Ram’s idols were placed in 1949 right in extreme secrecy in violation of all established legal, moral and religious principles will remain where they are.

This judicial atrocity provides legitimacy to the illegal placement of Ram statute in a mosque and the criminal act perpetrated by RSS combine in demolishing the masjid in 1992. This is Indian justice – the largest democracy in the world where around 150 million Muslims were treated worse than the worst of  dalits.

This verdict has nothing to do with legality, right and wrong or historic or other evidences. It is simply a judgment to appease Hindu fanatics. Otherwise how on earth two third of an almost five century old mosque be given to Hindus purely on the basis of their claim of belief and faith. The silence of righteous Hindus also contributed to this injustice which shattered India’s hypocrisy of secularism.

One media report rightly pointed out that “at one level, from the standpoint of political morality, the verdict could be viewed as partially rewarding those who placed the idol overnight under the central dome of the mosque and those who in 1992 razed it to the ground”.

 As expected  within  24 hours  L.K.Advani who went on  his shameful Rath Yathra, whipped up anti Muslim feelings,  led the mobs who destroyed the Masjid masjid   ,triggered anti Muslim violence  and killed  thousands of innocent Muslims , said” Now we can go ahead with the construction of Ram Temple in the Masjid premises.  

The mosque was first built almost five centuries ago in 1528 by the Mughal King Babar. Mughal rulers were known for their religious tolerance and there was no record of any Hindu claiming this mosque premises then as the place where Lord Ram was born.  No such   claim was made even during the time of Babar’s grandson Akbar   known for his liberal policies.

However centuries later, around 1850s, some Advani and Narendra type fascist Hindus, began claiming that Babri Masjid was built at the site where Lord Ram was born. This situation continued for almost a century until 1949, when some Hindus secretly placed idols of Lord Rama inside the mosque triggering off strong protest from the Muslims.

Highlighting the unfair judgment columnist Ram Puniyani said  ” the   claim of RSS combine ,BJP,VHP,Sang Parivar and the like to build a Ram temple inside Babri masjid is not backed up by Historical and archeological data. The argument put forward was that ‘Faith’ will decide the birth place of Lord Ram and Sangh Parivar will be guided by the mahants and sadhus about the future course of action.  

Since then VHP had been spearheading the campaign to build Ram Temple asserting   that it is the ‘faith’ and not the law of the land which will guide their actions. The judgment    endorsed and rewarded VHP’s lawlessness and criminality.

 Expressing his views    another Hindu columnist stated that “numerous critics have argued that the Court appears to have accepted the claims of Hindus who share the RSS vision of the world as normative and historically valid, and to have been guided by these possibly wholly untenable claims in making whatever decision it did. That this logic bodes ill for the future of secular democracy in India is a complete understatement. As a friend of mine, a fellow agnostic, brilliantly expressing my own reaction to the judgment, quipped, ‘Are we now to be governed by Hindu shariah?’

 At the same time, however, I must also confess my immense relief at the Court turning down the claims of the Sunni Waqf Board, not because I believe that the Board’s stance is wholly without any merit at all, but, rather, simply because had the Court favoured the Board   it would certainly have provoked Hindu hordes into unleashing yet another massive reign of terror against hapless Muslims all across the country. Had the Board been declared as the rightful owners of the contested site, rebuilding the Babri Masjid, which is what the Board has been demanding all along, would inevitably have had to entail demolishing the make-shift temple that was hurriedly set up on its ruins in 1992. And that would certainly have been at once pounced upon by Hindu fanatics as an excuse to whip up anti-Muslim violence on a scale hitherto completely unprecedented.

The High Court’s judgment, although disappointing in a very fundamental sense and cannot help disagree with the logic that informs it, its recommendation that the contested space be shared by Hindus and Muslims (although disproportionately) is, I must admit, hugely compelling and entirely welcome—simply for the symbolism of it. I have absolutely no idea as to how the two are going to arrange for this to actually happen. I suspect this will not be at all easy, particularly given the Hindutva fanatics’ dreams of constructing what they repeatedly term as a ‘ really grand temple’ on the spot, a prospect that would not exactly inspire Muslims with confidence to build, and worship in, a mosque in its shadow, he concluded.

The question is what is the guarantee even the one third of the mosque allocated to Muslims is going to be safe. Tomorrow yet another group of Hindu fanatics could claim that one third too stating that this was the place where Lord Ram spent years in sorrow when his wife Sita was lured, hijacked and imprisoned in Sri Lanka by Ravana. Once again the matter will be taken up in the court and, perhaps, after another half a century later there can be another court verdict stating that the one third of the mosque allocated Muslims was in fact the place where Lord Ram spent his lonely years.

Under the circumstances the verdict had sent another clear message to Indian Muslims; India is ruled by Hindu fanatics and Muslims have no place. In fact it was this Hindu fanaticism which divided India in 1947 and now threatens the country further. If this trend continues unchecked India doesn’t needs enemies as Hindu fanatics alone are enough to bring its down fall.

Despite its so called claim for secularism successive Congress governments have played their shady roles in creating the current situation. In 1949 Congress government failed to remove the illegally placed Ram statutes from the Mosque and thus being responsible for sowing the seeds for subsequent conflict between the two major communities.  

Yousuf  Muchala, counsel for victims of the communal riots in the aftermath of the demolition of Ayodhya mosque said, “It is not just the BJP or Sena who were responsible for the series of incidents that took place, but even the Congress governments, both at the centre and the state, were equally responsible. He reminded them that former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao promised to build a mosque at the same site.  Narasimha Rao also affirmed before the Justice M. S. Liberhan Commission of Inquiry in New Delhi that the demolished structure was a mosque when he said, “What else could it be? Was it a dwelling house? When the Government of Uttar Pradesh says that namaz (prayers) was going on there until 1949, irrespective of the date, what else could it be but a mosque?”
Once again it was under a Congress government that the verdict offering two third of the mosque to Hindus were given.

The judgement only confirms the great poet philosopher Sir Mohamed Allama Iqbal was right when he mooted the idea of dividing India to create a separate state for Muslims.   By; Mr. Latheef Farook 


About the author:- Mr. Latheef Farook, Sri Lankan Journalist began his career with the now defunct Independent News paper in 1966, before joining the Sri Lanka's premier English daily Ceylon Daily News and evening daily Ceylon Observer. In 1976 Ceylon Daily News nominated him for the United Nations sponsored Dag Hammarskjold scholarship for the Third World journalists. In 1979, he led a group of Sri Lankan journalists to Dubai, relaunching the Gulf News before joining the Khaleej Times a year later. In 2002 he became Head of Special Reports for the Gulf News in Dubai before retuning to Sri Lanka to launch the South Asia News Agency in Colombo in 2003. He is the author of international best seller , "War on Terrorism - The Untold Truths" first published in Malaysia and " Nobody's People - The forgotten plight of Sri Lanka's Muslims". 

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