Those who believed that the unanimous, five-judge Supreme Court judgment on the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute would also bring closure to other divisive temple-mosque controversies in India were rudely shaken by a district court in Varanasi. The ghosts of the subcontinent’s contentious medieval history aren’t buried so soon.
The court, headed by judge Ashutosh Tiwari, allowed a civil suit seeking an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) study of the Gyanvapi Mosque site to determine if it had been “superimposed” after demolishing the Kashi Vishwanath Temple that might have originally stood there. Immediately, this looked like a sequel to the Ayodhya story. This time, launched judicially.
To get disclosures out of the way, I’ve been among those optimists who thought Ayodhya was the last such dispute. Surely, it wasn’t settled to everybody’s full satisfaction, but the Supreme Court had made a case unanimously and all sides seemed to respect it. How does one interpret this latest turn now?
If you asked me to write, say, an editorial comment on it, I could simply reproduce a passage from that particularly well-written judgment.
The five Supreme Court judges took note of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991 that laid down that all shrines will be preserved as inherited by independent India on 15 August 1947. The law made an exception for Ayodhya as it was already an ongoing dispute. Nothing else was deserving of an exception, nor was it legally or constitutionally possible, the judges wrote.
Also read: Modi’s Hindutva 2.0 written on Varanasi walls: Temple restoration, not mosque demolition
Here is how our editorial on this would go if we were to simply plagiarise passages from the Supreme Court order. After references to the Places of Worship Act came the operative paragraphs, where the court laid down the law for the future. “Non-retrogression is a foundational feature of the fundamental principles of the Constitution, of which secularism is one,” the judges wrote.
“Non-retrogression is an essential feature of our secular values,” stated the judges, adding that our “Constitution speaks to our history and future of our nation…while we should be cognisant of the history, we need to confront it and move on”. The judges elaborated in that landmark order that independence, gained on 15 August 1947, was a great moment for healing the wounds.
The judges then went back to pick up the thread from the Places of Worship Act to emphasise the fact that “Parliament has mandated in no uncertain terms that history and its wrongs will not be used to oppress the present or the future”. We can summarise the essence of that judgment in three points.
1. All religious places must be protected as independent India inherited them on 15 August 1947 with the exception of the dispute over Ayodhya.
2. Even if a future Parliament in its wisdom decided to repeal or amend this law, this judgment would come in the way as the judges had placed the spirit of “non-retrogression” at the heart of our secular Constitution, as part of its basic features. A foundational feature of fundamental principles of the Constitution. Which, we know, can’t be amended.
3. It was a call to the nation, the government, political parties and religious groups to move on from the past.
It was on the assurance of these readings that many, including this writer, believed that the controversies over all other similar disputes were now buried and cremated. Two familiar slogans across decades of the Ayodhya agitation were, “yeh toh kewal jhaanki hai, Kashi-Mathura baaki hai”, and then, “teen nahin hain, teen hazaar”.
The first harked to the sites of the temples and mosques standing next to each other in Mathura, Lord Krishna’s birthplace, and Varanasi. The second said there was much more to come and that the campaign will be taken to any Muslim place of worship that “had been built by demolishing a temple”. That number, “conservatively”, was three thousand.
The Supreme Court judgment expected to provide closure to all these divisive ideas. It was also the language and spirit of the order. It made those like us who had lived through the divisive, violent nightmare of Ayodhya over three decades imagine that there will be no repeats. This Varanasi court order, unfortunately and with a questionable application of law, places a question mark on that optimism now. It is evident that judge Tiwari has either not read the Supreme Court order, or makes a radically different interpretation of its meaning.
Also read: Babri ruling is BJP’s golden goose. Mathura, Kashi signal to erase India’s Islamic history
Any reasonable judge in a higher court, especially a high court, would dismiss this Varanasi order. But some questions arise.
One, how did this spark suddenly light up? There was a suit filed over Mathura as well recently. So, are these actions taken in concert with a common intention? If so, does it have the blessings of the people at the top of the VHP-RSS and BJP? And, finally, if that is indeed the case, and if their intention is not to respect the essential spirit of the Supreme Court judgment, will they stop even if a higher court throws out this order?
There is nothing to stop it from following the course of the Ayodhya movement. And now that it’s been choreographed already, the next one might not take two centuries. In this case, majority can rule, and so what if it causes bloodshed and disruption for another decade or more? What price is too much to pay for “righting the wrongs of history”? This, a resumption of 16th and 17th century wars in 21st century India will be an invitation to disaster. It will hold the future of our coming generations to ransom.
History is never to be taken lightly. That is why it is taught so widely and the reason it is so politicised. But, basing decisions impacting your future on your understanding of history is like driving on an expressway by looking not across the windscreen, but at the rear-view mirror. You are bound to hit something nasty soon enough, hurting yourself and others.
One of the most quoted passages from columnist Tom Friedman’s 2005 book The World is Flat is about which countries, companies and organisations are likely to do well, given the relative balance of their dreams and memories. “I am glad you were great in the 14th century, but that was then and this is now,” he wrote. “In societies that have more memories than dreams, too many people are spending too much time looking backward. They see dignity and self-worth not by mining the present but chewing on the past…and that is usually not a real past but an imagined and adorned past…they cling to it, rather than imagining a better future and acting on that.”
The Supreme Court order on Ayodhya had cued us precisely in this direction, the future. The Varanasi court, and celebratory responses from the partisans, are tempting us to make an about-turn. The choice is ours.
Also read: Why Babri masjid demolition verdict is unlikely to end all temple-mosque disputes
The Supreme Court of India gave the most disappointing judgement in favour of Hindus on Babri majid just because Hindus had “kabza” or “occupation” in the premises before 15th August 1947 instead of announcing exemplary punishment to Mughals and their progenies for destruction of Hindu place of worship to build mosque. All such mosques are nothing but illegal structures and we want revenge for past 1000 years from Turks. However compromise for a shared Hindu Muslim future is possible for which VHP and AIMPLB, Waqf board should find a mutually acceptable solution.
Shekharji….I have been an admirer of yours, since i became politically conscious in 1975–77, since when i became a regular subscriber to The Indian Express Daily and India Today later…. and now i am subscriber to The Print too… i have in my own mind, always agreed with you on all the contentious issues covered by you… Here for the first time I have to disagree with you on the points raised by you in this article…… I believe we need some sort of a Truth & Reconciliation Commission in India, to lay to rest and at least bare the emotional issues, governing the relationship, between the Hindus and the minorities, especially the Muslims….. I believe, there will be no more destruction of any mosques or any other structures….1991 act or no act….. and surely this District Courts order will not be a spark to it….Hindus will not allow it to go that road…… BJP knows it as I am sure RSS knows it….. But yes, we need to know the truth on these contested histories…. what better than through the judicial route if not through the Truth & Reconciliation commission…..
Truth & Reconciliation commission…..is a good idea.
But it will not happen. Because the RSS wants neither. Lies and nafrath form their engine for generating power.
Why we look for future, looking in future is for country like China, USA, Japan, South Korea, Germany and even Bangladesh and others…for country like our and Russia, Turkey and Pakistan we need to go back in our past and live there because our past was better at least this what we been told. Modern science and technology and an innovative society entrepreneur culture these are a western philosophy we should not follow them.
This reverse mirror driving was introduced in 1990s by Advani with his slogan ‘garv say kaho hum Hindu hain’. Some nascent shoots of the Vedic philosophy were seen during Vajpayee’s govt. but he did not have a majority to go for complete reverse driving. Then we had an interlude of western philosophy under MMS, but now the ones with belief in reverse driving are completely in control. They see roadblocks driving forwards, it is safer for them, to drive backwards.
I agree with you that India now is not a country in the futuristic list, and some Indians like Gupta realise it. India was billed as an emerging and exciting superpower – by Thomas Friedmann himself during the MMS years. But the passage Gupta quotes which was written by Friedmann in 2005 (with some Islamic countries in mind, where there were groups like Taliban that wanted to return to the 7th century caliphate to regain their vitality) is certainly applicable to the India of today. Friedmann will be the first to say India is now heading in the same direction.
Countries that go in the direction of ‘progression through retrogression’ are failing or failed ones. They have opted for this route because they cannot see a way forward in present times. And people endorse such leaders because they have low self esteem and think leaders like Modi will bring them prestige.
Among the countries you have cited for rear driving, Russia and Turkey, have aspects of the same syndrome. But they will not be as disastrous as India. The people in those two countries are not suffering malnutrition. Turkey look like Europe. The same with Russia. They did not have scenes like migrant labour walking 800 km barefoot due to Covid shut down. In India, the absolute poverty levels are sub_Saharan in places, and driving in reverse will take us to the edge quickly – which is what we see.
Shekhar Gupta perhaps did not notice that Modi and his brain dead bhakts, Sangh parivar, cow vigilantes and rapists are specialised in driving in R gear at high speed. The rear view mirror is the most useful device for them as they journey to Vedic India.
In other societies, they drive in the front direction going by what they see in the windscreen, and they only use the rear mirror occasionally.
From Iran to Indonesia, from Tibet to Mauritius and the waters of Indian Ocean belonged to India, we should one day recaptute it all. We do have strong leaders and Rafale . Even in Jerusalem there was a temple!
Unless you build a good base, plinth, paya, how can you build a tower? Unless you rectify past mistakes,(rear view mirror) how can you drive into the future? Get some driving lessons.
So much of attachment to buildings and beliefs from both Hindus and Muslims. If we were scientific and forgiving we would only look forward into the future and have better living standards. Understand what Renaissance and Science did to Europe in the fifteenth century. They came out of the clutches of the Church and moved onward into the Industrial Age. And here in India we are unable to shake off the priests on both sides even now.
Your base is composed of cow vigilantes, rapists, genocidists, progromists; and at the top, you have a fake encounter specialist and a an uneducated man with a forged degree.
What kind of base and tower have you built ? Do you see these in the best countries or other rising countries ?
yes. ALL countries including those developed western ones hate muslims . now talk
Shekhar Gupta should exit the fake “secularist” echo chambers of Lutyens Delhi, go to the real world and read the koran and the hadish to get a true sense of what islam and jihad are. There can never be peace with islam. The wanton destruction of our temples is only one facet of the 1400 year old civilizational war that islam has been waging on us. The only way for Hindus to live in peace with islam is by vanquishing this toxic ideology. It may he fashionable for Lutyens liberals like you to close your eyes and pretend that islam is like any other ideology because your livelihood depends on deliberately pretending to be ignorant. Go to a masjid or madrasa in UP to understand the great pride the maulanas take and preach about how the invaders destroyed our temples, committed genocide of Hindus and sold our women and children in the bazaars of arabia. Remember, you are not immune to history. If we go down the path that Lutyenswallahs like you have been advocating, your own posterity in about a hundred years from now will face the stark choice of converting to islam or be killed. You may be ok with such an outcome, many of us are not.
Don’t start your agenda again and try to influence mindsets of people with your biased articles. Print is well known for being propagating these agendas using soft tactics. Not only Varanasi, we want our Mathura temple too. These three temples are very precious to us and we shall take them.
A fair article. At the moment we have more pressing problems. Society peace is an absolute pre requisite if we as an Economy have to grow and stand tall. There can be no further arguments on this, I hope.
The mindless forcing of a western implant, secularism, which in India became nothing but a stick to brow beat Hindus and villify their religion by the deracinated (i.e. rootless, divorced from one’s cultural environment), Nehru and his gang of pseuds is thankfully beginning to unravel.
Shekhar Gupta true to his Lutyens presstitute credentials, is once again displaying his loyalty to the left liberal deceitful, crooked establishment, by going to the foundational principles of the Big Lies espoused by their ringleader, Nehru. After all that is his watering hole and feeding trough. Where he fed and prospered. True to his salt!
The article is a politico-legal criticism of the court order. The issue with that is that a temple is neither the domain of politics nor of legal discourse, it is the domain of the faithful. Millions believe in the holiness of these sites. If the Dome of the Rock gets taken over by some other faith, would not Muslims vow to take it back? Why should Hindus be denied their holy places just because a fanatic emperor constructed insignificant mosques on their holy sites just to denigrate them and their faith?
The court’s order directing archaeological survey has caused panic because it is bound to disclose a temple foundation below the Gyanvapi Mosque. Truth hurts. Demolition of Vishwanath Mandir is chronicled by the Moghul courtiers themselves. It is not “belief” as you put it. It is a fact.
In this proceeding, none is seeking retribution against the Muslims of present generation. Instead, the temple land which was wrongfuly appropriated by force is being claimed back. How is that anti-secular?
Ideally, the Muslims of Varanasi and Mathura should wholeheartedly and graciously deliver the mosque sites to the Hindus.
You can forget “teen nahin, teen hazar” won’t happen. Even Dr.Subramanian Swamy won’t support it.