I was barely five years old when the Babri Masjid was razed to the ground by a frenzied mob. As India awaits the Supreme Court verdict on the Ram Janmabhoomi- Babri Masjid dispute in Ayodhya in the next few days, I recall how we sat down in front of the black-and-white TV set in the evening, and the DD News anchor solemnly, sans theatrics and melodrama, informed the viewers about the demolition. I remember the psychological impact that act had on me as a five-year-old and also the grim faces of everyone around, children, young people and elderly alike.
Today, I am not as concerned about the outcome of the Ayodhya verdict as I am about its possible fallout. Especially because all the noise around the court verdict has drowned out the silence about the bloodshed that followed the Ayodhya campaign.
The everyday threat of violence
As a child, I had reacted differently. I drew my instinctive reaction to this assault on a piece of paper in my drawing book. It constituted of three amateurishly drawn figures of a mosque intact, a mosque demolished and a mosque re-built. That was the demand of a child with a very nascent sense of justice.
A decade-and-a-half later, as a Left activist, I raised the same demand. My position was no longer an emotional response of a five-year-old, but a more informed one – about the promise and pact that the Constitution of India makes to the people of India.
But today, my concerns are informed by what violence, or the everyday threat of violence, does to people. It makes them forego their constitutional rights, and settle for an unjust peace.
I remember those heady days and months following the demolition of Babri Masjid when innumerable wounds were inflicted on the body-politic of our republic. News poured in of riots, violence and curfews from various parts of the country. Rumours and facts became indistinguishable. The news that came in from the city of Mumbai was particularly disturbing.
Twenty-seven years later, few have been punished for the trail of blood left behind by the infamous Rath Yatra with L.K. Advani at its helm. In fact, the loss of lives and the bludgeoning of the rule of law that took place back then have been conveniently erased from popular consciousness. The only debate now is about the outcome of the title suit.
Also read: Beyond religion, there is an intellectual argument for a Ram Mandir at Ayodhya
A bias in punishment?
This erasure is part and parcel of the regime of impunity that has been craftily built for those who perpetrate communal violence and work overtime to divide and polarise. The idea of justice is central to the idea of democracy, and therefore it is pertinent that our memories of injustice are not allowed to fade away into oblivion.
When the Liberhan Commission, constituted 10 days after the demolition, finally came out with its report 17 years later, it indicted top BJP leaders like L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and Kalyan Singh for inciting violence and hate-mongering, and named the RSS, the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. It is important to recall that when the panel was constituted, it was supposed to carry out a time-bound probe and submit the report within three months. The delay itself rendered the exercise meaningless and hollow, and none whom the report held responsible has been punished to date.
For the Congress-led UPA, the completion of the report gave it an occasion to mouth some hollow platitudes about its commitment to secularism. But apart from that, it never had the political will or the courage to act on the committee’s findings. The crores of rupees spent on maintaining the staff of this longest-running commission in Independent India stood wasted and justice was turned into a mere jest.
The Srikrishna Commission, whose mandate was to probe the gory Mumbai riots that followed the Babri demolition, met the same fate. The Mumbai riots took place in two phases in December 1992 and January 1993 and claimed nearly 900 lives – 275 Hindus and 575 Muslims – and left over 2,000 people injured. The committee noted in its voluminous (almost 25,000 pages) report that by January 1993, the riots were no more spontaneous like they were in December. The committee showed with elaborate proofs how the riots were engineered under the Shiv Sena and targeted Muslims. It indicted Shiv Sena leaders like Bal Thackeray, Gajanan Kirtikar, Milind Vaidya and BJP leaders like Madhukar Sarpotdar and Gopinath Munde.
The most noteworthy finding of the Srikrishna Commission was the “built-in-bias” of the police against Muslims. The commission enlisted 11 incidents where 31 policemen were found to be actively participating in murder, arson and loot. It even named the Joint Police Commissioner R.D. Tyagi for killing nine young Muslim boys at ‘point-blank and in cold blood’ in the infamous Suleiman Bakery operation.
One only needs to compare the state’s treatment of this report with its response to the Mumbai blasts, which followed the riots, to understand the communal bias in our justice system.
The investigation of the blasts took place in the TADA court, with 100 people being convicted; one of those on death penalty has been executed. On the other hand, the Srikrishna Commission report on Mumbai riots was never acted upon. In fact, the Shiv Sena-BJP government even tried disbanding the panel. Even the ‘secular’ Congress-NCP governments never acted on its recommendations. None of the police officers were punished. Some were, in fact, promoted to plum posts.
Then and now
From Babri to Dadri, we have come a long way, but there is an eerie seamless connection between then and now. Advocate Rajiv Dhawan, who represented the Sunni Waqf board during the Supreme Court hearings in the Ayodhya case, supposedly kept referring to the disputed land as ‘a crime scene’. But in reality, the crime scene was neither confined to that piece of land, nor to that fateful day on 6 December 1992.
These events of the early 1990s, in a way, laid the foundations for the hate and communal violence unleashed with impunity today. The Srikrishna Commission had particularly called out two newspapers Saamana and Navakal for whipping up communal frenzy against Muslims. The present-day TV newsroom anchors have mainstreamed hate with greater effect. That the blood and mayhem triggered by a rath yatra led by L.K. Advani can go unpunished makes it possible for a union minister to openly garland mob -lynching convicts now. It is no longer considered a problem to speak ill of or mistreat the minorities, because those doing so – from prime-time anchors, ministers to the mob on the streets – know that they need not fear the law.
The future of India as a constitutional republic rests on whether we are able to dismantle this regime of impunity.
Also read: What the last imam of Babri Masjid told me a few months before the demolition
The author is an activist and former JNU student. Views are personal.
The Demolition of Sri Ram’s temple by that Islamic terrorist Mohammed Zahiruddin Baber is not condemned by you. The very start of Islam was with usurping other peoples shrines and establishing Islam’s structures on them. What is Kaaba? it was never an Islamic shrine it was there long before Mohammed was born. Mohammed usurped it by force. Islam is not an Indian religion. it came here with the Quran in one hand and the sword in another, take this or this they said. It is thus spread in India and elsewhere. If Baber demolishing temple was right then the Hindus demolishing Babri Masjid was also right.
Well, in the same way, India is still trying to ascertain the millions of Hindus converted, lakhs of women taken and lakhs of temples desecrated and destroyed, along with the loot and plunder of our assets, by the invading marauders who became our kings/emperors and tuled us for hundreds of years. I hope this renagade knows and acknowledges this.
This man has a fundamentalist hidden in him. I condemn demolition of a mosque. But sorry to say, he has a divine joy in calling himself a minority. The atrocities against Muslims in the name of cow protection should be condemned. But at the same time he needs to express his dissent against the innumerous Hindu girls in Bangladesh, Pakistan raped as an aftermath. He should protest against the atrocities done to Ankit Tiwari. He does not have the guts to criticise his own religion. So when he is accusing the system to be biassed, he should first be emancipated from the bias inside him.
Cherry picking historical events makes for a good narrative and humans build narratives to make sense out of what seems senseless. One can view this as a version of confirmation bias too. However, I agree with the basic premise of the article ie Justice for those that have faced violence, trauma and hatred. I would like to expand the scope; a sense of justice (if not justice itself) for those who have faced intergenerational violence, trauma and hatred. History needs context, and in our case, reconciliation too.
“Regime of Impunity” ? This coming from a seditious cretin who lived off Tax payer funded scholarships and educational subsidies while conspiring with terrorists and anti-India Islamists and Naxals to break India ?
Seditious reprobate being given a space to ventilate his venom is the perversion of this sorry online rag called “print” .
No more – Never coming to your pseudo sickular cesspit again.
Agree with you on this point. Print is taking sides of criminals, but never says word on Hindus killed by minorities in WB, Kerala, Kashmir and everywhere else.
Mr. Shekhar is nothing but agent of Pakistan where millions of Hindu got killed or forcibly converted. Even today there is news of Sindhi dental student raped and killed in Karachi, but police presumes it suicide.
Shame on The Print media reporting only one side of story. How many where killed in aftermath of Babri in Bombay blast and the terror organization of D company is supported by Paki military.
Why 11/26 happened in first place and who got punished?
“Never coming to your pseudo sickular cesspit again.”
good riddance!
Our Judiciary is a slow delaying mechanism sucking off strength of all involved, be it petty family issues or Babri Masjid. So why is left blaming politics fof it when our useless courts adopt every delaying tactic to everyone, be it a famoly member or others. To only claim that only muslims suffered by bias of police and courts lacks proof and needs to be condenmed. Lastly umar khalid is an opportunist left wing anti india member when convinient he uses quran other wise uses constitution. Not sure what is his cause.
Umer Khalid leader of the Tukre Tukre gang, swears about Indian constitution when it suits him. He is a product of SIMI movement.
ow talk sense at least. ill informed and malicious comments lead nowhere. or are you paid to spread lies of our dear feku-motu pair?
I agree with basic point of this article .. that delay/closure in judicial process is biggest risk to India.. same can be written about almost any disputes right from local property disputes to major nation-wide criminal acts.. failure to execute from legal/judicial process is everywhere. 84 riots as clear case as well.. to make it only anti-Muslim is usual “conspiracy theory” mindset I see in most Muslim friends.. Individual/societal biases mentioned in this article are true and to be honest exists in most countries, even in India against poor, against certain castes / classes etc .. I think key is, we must execute judicial process in transparent, fair and speedy manner.. rest will sort itself. Let us not make it Muslim bias issue even though that might be true in some cases.
There are just too many Muslims who take the Quran literally… and too many others who couldn’t care less about the violence done in the name of Islam.
There are just too many Hindus who take the mythology literally… and too many others who couldn’t care less about the violence done in the name of Ram, cows, mandirs.
This is true with all sort of extremists.
The author is a member of ‘tukre tukre ‘ gang. Send him to pakistan. he is another terrorist in disguise.
it is modi who is the greatest enabler of the forces that may eventually split india
Why not in US , UK? You are running a travel agency by sending people to Pakistan?
Yes. These pseudoseculars portraying themselves as intellectuals are infact the greatest enemy of nation and root of all evil.
Agreed, crimes need to get punished. Let’s start with punishing the gang that wants India to be broken into pieces as that is more dangerous than any other crime mentioned in this article.
how can any crime exceed that of mass murder?
in any case, the gang that is acting the most to get India to be broken into pieces is the rss-bjp nexus.