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| Babri mosque and Indian secularism |
| Dr. Raja Muhammad Khan |
| In the midst of a lot of uproar and political accusations, the Liberhan Commission Inquiry Report, ascertaining the causes of the demolition of the Babri Mosque, was finally presented in the Indian Parliament on November 24. India being the world’s largest democracy, proclaiming the secular character took 17 long years to reach over the conclusions of the factors behind the demolition of the 16th Century, historical Mosque. The report finalised by Justice Manmohan Singh Liberhan and his team has blamed Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, the former Indian Premier to be among those responsible for the ignominy of the Mosque demolition. Besides, the current President of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Mr. L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, and many other politicians of the BJP, RSS, and some other political parties have also been accused for bringing this shame to the Indian secularism.
Even though there exists divergences about the exact year of the Mosque’s construction, yet it is widely believed that the Babri Mosque was constructed in 1527 at Ramkot Hill, also called Ramkot Fort, a town of the Ayodhya-Uttar Pradesh (UP). After independence of India, some extremist Hindus started claiming that the site of the Babri Mosque was indeed the birthplace of the Lord Ram.
They also claimed that, the Mosque was constructed by erazing the Hindu temple by the Muslims in 16th century. However, the Hindus otherwise forming bulk of the Indian population did not raise such an issue throughout, even during the British Colonialism from 1857 to 1947.
On December 22, 1949, idols of Ram Lalla were enigmatically installed in this historical Mosque by Hindus, which provoked the Muslims. Visualizing a deep tension between Muslims and Hindus of the Ajodhya, UP, the local court sealed the Mosque and entry into it was banned for the followers of both the religions.
Thereafter the situation remained under control, until in 1980s, when some forceful voices were heard from the fanatic Hindus for allowing them to worship in the Mosque and subsequently for the construction of a Ram Temple at its site.
The issue of the Mosque was reopened in 1984, when Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) togather with many other Hindu nationalist parties formally demanded ownership of the Mosque, through their mass movement.
The Faizabad Session court allowed the Hindus for their worship in the Mosque by reopening its locks in 1986 and later Prime Minister Rajiv Ghandhi allowed construction of a temple on an undisputed site near the Mosque in 1989. In September 1990, Mr L.K. Advani, the then BJP president undertook a “Rath Yatra - an ancient Hindu warrior-style campaign on a chariot- that was actually a converted Toyota van - from Somnath in Gujarat to Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, in connection with the construction of Ram Temple at the site of the Babri Mosque.
Although Indian Supreme Court had ordered the safety and security of the Mosque, but on December 6, 1992, a crowd of over 150,000 Hindu fundamentalists from all organisations and political parties from across the length and breadth of India concentrated at Ayodhya. They were demanding construction of the Ram Temple at the site of the place.
However, in spite of the assurances given by the demonstrators to the Indian Supreme Court, the Hindu mob attacked the Mosque and demolished it. As per eyewitnesses, the local administration and the Indian police instead of stopping the fanatic Hindu mob became a party to them in the demolition of the Mosque. Upon his failure to stop the demolition, the then Indian Premier, Mr. Narasimha Rao, had said: “What happened today is a matter of great concern and shame for all Indians.”
Over 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, got killed as an after effect of demolition of the Mosque thus exposing the reality of the Indian secularism. Mr. Kalyan Singh, then part of BJP and Chief Minister of the UP, has denied the charges of allowing the carnage to happen and rather emphasized for the immediate construction of the temple.
He declared the report as a ‘political conspiracy’ against the BJP and said that; “the question before me was: whom should I save? I prevented a massacre.
The structure (mosque) went (in the process). I have no regrets. The Ram temple has to come up, the structure (mosque) had to go.”
The salient parts of the report were secretly leaked to the press prior to its tabling into the Parliament, which became an embarrassment for the Government as well as to the Commission.
Within the Parliament, the report caused a lot of uproar, slogans, and even exchange of blows among the parliamentarians; those who were pro-report and the anti-report.
Along with the report, Indian Government also submitted its Action Taken Report (ATR), which stated “political leaders holding office should not concurrently hold positions of responsibility in religious organisations.” In the report, Justice Liberhan stated that, “The temptation to allow one’s judgment in one sphere to influence opinions in the other is irresistible and easily leads to dissatisfaction and disenchantment in other sections of the population.”
Even after declaring them as responsible for the carnage, Indian nationalist leaders like L.K Advani and Joshi has adopted a very clear stance on the report and declared that they would not change their stance and Joshi even said publicly that, “We have always said a grand temple should come up there and we are not diluting our demand.”
In fact, India is a fundamentalist Hindu state. It has projected its secular character for the consumptions of the international community. Realistically, the so-called secular India is a land of extreme contradictions. On the one hand, it has second highest number of billionaires, whereas on the other it is home to the teeming millions who scarcely keep the wolf from the door.
Minorities and lower Indian castes are very vulnerable, open to exploitation by higher Indian castes without any remorse and state protection. Infringement of Human Rights is a regular feature because of these lower classes and minorities.
Indian booming economy and so called increasing prosperity could not conceal its oppressive discriminations, which have gone unabated. Contrary to its claim, India has never demonstrated to be a secular state, neither could she upheld its claims of a social welfare state. Its dominant castes have always committed unprecedented breach of international obligations of fundamental human rights of lower classes and Dalits.
Successive Indian governments failed to solve this problem, which resulted in continued and enhanced brutalities against schedule castes.
There are thousands of evidences where its officials have resorted to violations like: torture and rape of those who are arrested or taken into custody. Apart from this, harassment and arrest of human rights activists; extensive societal violence and legal and social discrimination against women; forced prostitution; child abuse and female infanticide; widespread inter-caste and communal violence; religion-based violence against Muslims and Christians are regular features, clearly reflecting the Indian insensitivity and exposing her tall claims of a secular state.
The so-called secular India has given a new trend to terrorism.
The state sponsor terrorism in Occupied Kashmir, North and Northeastern states, state of Gujerat, and many other regions are some of the examples.
Above all, thousands of Sikhs were brutally massacred by Indian Army in 1980s against their legitimate demands of free religious practices.
Thousands of Muslims were killed all along India once they raised their voices against the inhuman Indian brutalities.
Similarly, in Occupied Kashmir Indian security forces have killed more than 90,000 innocent people, ever since the start of the renewed Kashmiri struggle for their right of self-determination.
Over 2500 Muslims of Gujerat were massacred by state machinery in early 2000s under BJP government, still ruling the state. A number of Christians were tortured and killed during last two decades. Even in some cases, Christian missionaries were burnt alive without any remorse.
Indian fanatic and nationalistic organisations like Bajrang Dal, VHP, BJP, and RSS are highly active against minorities.
It is worth mentioning here that Mr. Bal Thackeray, the head of Shiv Sena has recently proposed to form Hindu suicide squads to counter the so called Islamic militancy. Minorities and lower castes are not the only targets.
The migrants and refugees are worst sufferers of this inhuman treatment. In the recent past, Vishwa Hindu Parishad has launched a drive to flush out five hundred thousand Bangladeshi migrants living in Mumbai since decades having Indian nationality.
India, the world’s largest democracy is indeed home to the world’s largest number of poor people inhabiting a single country.
Out of its over one billion population, an estimated four hundred millions are living below the poverty line. More than 40 per cent of the population is illiterate, with women, tribal and scheduled castes particularly affected.
In March 2007, it was pointed out by Asian Director of Human Rights Watch, Brad Adams, in a UN organised conference against discrimination that, “The UN Committee’s concluding observations confirm that India has failed to properly protect Dalits and tribal communities.” Indian police and officials often target Dalits communities, and tacitly allow other interest groups to commit violence against them with impunity.
According to Dalits Human Rights statistics: “27 atrocities are committed against Dalits every day; 13 Dalits are murdered or their belongings are burnt every week; 6 Dalits kidnapped or abducted every week; three Dalit women raped every day and 11 Dalits are beaten every day”. Indeed a crime is committed against a Dalit after every 18 minutes in secular India.
After analyzing the internal dynamics of India, one wonders how the world is so easily tricked into believing its secular and democratic character.
Thanks to Bollywood, Indian large Diaspora in other countries and West’s vested economic interests in India that helps in overlooking rather veiling these human rights abuses in bright sunshine.
While quoting from the history, Gandhi had promised Indians that, “there would be no tear on anybody’s cheek in independent India.”
However, 62 years later, tears of helplessness and hunger do not stop trickling down the eyes of a large majority of Indians. Jawaharlal Nehru’s socialism and Gandhi’s self-sufficiency have clashed to give India a hotchpotch uneven urban progress with scorched rural landscape.
These are signs of a perplexed and confused state rather a proclaimed and exceedingly propagated secular state.
drmk_edu@yahoo.com |
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