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20
years after Babri razing, India has moved on
Wednesday December 05, 2012 05:37:30 PM, Prashant Sood,
IANS
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New Delhi: Twenty years
after the Babri mosque demolition sparked off the worst communal
clashes after the subcontinent's partition in 1947, India has
moved on. But analysts and politicians say there has to be a
constant secular vigil.
Despite the then government's pledge, the razed 16th century
mosque has not been rebuilt. On its ruins now stands a makeshift
shrine for Hindu god Rama, guarded by hundreds of heavily armed
security personnel.
The temple-mosque row of Ayodhya, where it all happened, no more
elicits the kind of emotions it evoked in the late 1980s and early
90s, re-drawing the political map of the country.
"The general resentment against the demolition has been
vindicated," says political analyst Aswini K. Ray. He said the
incident came as a shock to India's deep-rooted secular
traditions.
But the fact that no political party, including the Bharatiya
Janata Party, today justifies the destruction is a "vindication of
India's secularism", the former Jawaharlal Nehru University
professor told IANS.
Added Rizwan Qaiser of Jamia Millia Islamia university here: "The
country has moved on, so has the (Muslim) community, but the scar
has remained."
It was on Dec 6, 1992, when a mob owing allegiance to the Vishwa
Hindu Parishad and related organisations overran the Babri mosque
in Ayodhya, in Uttar Pradesh, and brought down the shrine in just
six hours.
The calamitous event triggered nationwide rioting and sowed the
seeds of Muslim anger India was not prepared for.
It also led to the rise and rise of the BJP, eventually
catapulting it to power nationally in 1998.
George Mathew, chairman of the Institute of Social Sciences, said
that mass determination not to look back has acted as a check
against a repeat of such an incident.
Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said the Babri
demolition held valuable lessons for India, a Hindu-majority
country with the second largest Muslim population after Indonesia.
According to published accounts, Babri mosque was built by Mir
Baqi, a noble in Mughal emperor Babur's court in 1528. Hindu
groups say it came up at the very birthsite of Lord Rama and
needed to go.
Attempts by well-wishers to resolve the issue by holding
discussions between Hindu and Muslim leaders have so far failed.
The judiciary too has not succeeded in coming up with a solution
acceptable to everyone.
While Ray felt the BJP was unlikely to revive the Ayodhya issue in
a major way, Qaiser said the BJP was not raking up the row only
because of electoral compulsions.
BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh said the demolition was a reaction
to "discrimination against the majority (community)" - a euphemism
to mean that Muslims had been pampered by successive governments.
But he quickly added: "(Now) both the majority and minority
communities would like to move on with a new political mantra
called development."
Marxist leader Basudeb Acharia said that while the Babri mosque
may have faded from headlines, it would never be forgotten.
He pointed out that communal tensions were resurfacing in parts of
the country, particularly in Uttar Pradesh. "We should not be
complacent," the veteran parliamentarian told IANS.
(Prashant Sood
can be contacted at prashant.s@ians.in)
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