Sandeep Pandey, Yugal Kishore Shashtri and Lubna Sarwath

With the exception of few, every leader of political or social importance is making an appeal to the common people to maintain peace and communal harmony in the wake of Supreme Court judgement in the Ram Janambhumi-Babri Masjid case as part of which the entire 2.77 acres of disputed land has been given for contruction of Ram temple and Government has been directed to provide 5 acres of land elsewhere for construction of mosque. The Prime Minister has said, ‘After the verdict, the way every section of society, of every religion, has welcomed it is a proof of India’s ancient culture and tradition of social harmony.’ He also said, ‘The calm and peace maintained by 130 crore Indians in the run-up to today’s verdict manifests India’s inherent commitment to peaceful coexistence.’ The Rashtryia Swayamsewak Sangh chief has made an appeal, ‘I urge the people of India to maintain law and order.’ Lal Krishna Advani’s reaction is, ‘I stand vindicated, and feel deeply blessed,..’ It will be interesting to see how the Court will judge him now as an accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case.

The SC observes, ‘As regards the inner courtyard, there is evidence on preponderance of probabilities to establish worship by the Hindus prior to the annexation of Oudh by the British in 1857. The Muslims have offered no evidence to indicate that they were in exclusive possession of the inner structure prior to 1857 since the date of construction in the sixteenth century.’ This has been the basis of handing over the disputed site to Hindus. It further observes, ‘The exclusion of the Muslim from worship and possession took place on the intervening night between 22/23 December 1949 when the mosque was desecrated by the installation of Hindu idols.’ And then it goes on to say, ‘The Muslims have been wrongly deprived of a mosque which had been constructed well over 450 years.’

While acknowledging Muslims offering namaz from 1857 to 1949 in the inner structure but saying there is no evidence of this before 1857, although accepting that the mosque existed for at least 450 years, the judgement says, ‘Dividing the land will not subserve the interest of either of the parties or secure a lasting sense of peace and tranquility,’ and offers the land to Hindus. It balances by saying, ‘Justice would not prevail if the Court were to overlook the entitlement of the Muslims who have been deprived of the structure of the mosque through means which should not have been employed in a secular nation committed to the rule of law. The Constitution postulates the equality of all (emphasis in the judgement) faiths. Tolerance and mutual co-existence nourish the secular commitment of our nation and its people.’

The purpose of the judgement and the national appeals, before and after the delivery of judgement – issued by authorities as well as social-political leaderships – is understandable. At best the judgement is a compromise to appease the majority while assuaging the feelings of minority, whether justice has been done is questionable. Similar to the clampdown in Jammu and Kashmir, a tight security control ensured that ‘peace’ would be prevailed.

The first two authors were not allowed to hold a two day communal harmony workshop on 17-18 August, 2019, at Ram Janki temple at Saryu Kunj in Ayodhya in which Professor Ram Puniyani was to speak and have been issued notices in August by the Resident Magistrate of Ayodhay prohibiting them from opening a Bank Account of their ‘Sarva Dharm Sadbhav Trust.’ The Sarva Dharm Sadbhav Trust has plans to build a multi-faith harmony centre in Ayodhya to convey the message that Ayodhya, sacred to at least five religions – Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism – is a place which is a symbol of communal harmony. They were detained again on 19th August when they wanted to hold a press conference at the temple. The Government obviously doesn’t want any other point of view, than in favour of Ram temple, to be expressed by anybody for the last four months. This is how ‘peace’ and ‘co-existence’ has been enforced upon the country.

If such a tight control had been observed in 1992, when Bhartiya Janata Party’s government was in power in Uttar Pradesh, probably the mosque would not have been demolished. The Chief Minister Kalyan Singh went back on his word given to SC, that he would be faithful to the Constitution, to claim that he was a RSS worker first and CM later after the mosque was demolished. In 2002 in spite of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee admonishing Narendra Modi, the then CM of Gujarat, to follow ‘Rajdharm,’ and Defence Minister George Fernandes wanting to deploy Army, rioting went on in Gujarat for three days. And we should remember that this violence was triggered by burning of train in Godhra carrying kar-sewaks who had gone to perform shila-pujan at Ayodhya 17 years in advance of a judgement in favour of Ram temple. Earlier this year Amit Shah, the Home Minister, and Mohan Bhagwat, both have rejected the SC judgement allowing entry of women of menstruating age to enter Sabrimala temple in Kerala.

It is interesting that the politics of Hindtuva which has built itself up on violence and hatred, starting with the murder of Mahatma Gandhi, and doesn’t care if the copy of Constituion is burnt at Jantar-Mantar and holds a SC judgement in contempt, is displaying a new found faith in Constiution and values like equality and fraternity enshrined in it. It is obvious that it has worked to build a consensus, taking most Muslim organizations also on board and the SC judges into confidence, to arrive at this judgment. But the larger question is, has this consensus for maintaining peace and harmony been built selectively only for the Ayodhya judgement?

If the BJP/RSS genuinely believe that peace and harmony should prevail from now on, can we expect no more mob-lynching incidents, killing of intellectuals, discrimination against minorities and dalits and in general politics of hate? Are they also going to respect Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 which prohibits conversion of any place of worship? And conversion doesn’t always take place in the manner in which it has been done in Ayodhya. At Mazar mod in Indira Nagar, Lucknow at a corner where Muslims used to offer namaz gradually over years, after a stone was kept under a tree, Hindus have started worshipping a deity and now there is a Provincial Armed Constabulary camp as well at the site. In a TV channel discussion on Indian Ahead on 23 Ocotber, 2019, before the Ayodhya judgement, in which the third author was also invited, Vishwa Hindu Parishad spokesperson Vinod Bansal has admitted that they have a list of 30,000 places in addition to Kashi and Mathura, where Hindu temples were demolished to build some Islamic structures. Will the BJP/RSS top brass counsel VHP leadership and is the observance of peace and harmony meant for them as well? The demolition of Babri Masjid has invited the problem of terrorism to India. More such misadventure is going to plunge India into deeper problems.

[Sandeep Pandey and Lubna Sarwath are with Socialist Party (India) and Yugal Kishore Shashtri is Mahant of Ram Janaki temple in Ayodhya.)]