What criminals could not achieve on December 6, 1992, is legitimized by Court

The author visited Ayodhya one month after the demolition of Babri mosque by the RSS/Shiv Sena/BJP cadres. It presented a picture of carnage, devastation, criminal participation of the Indian State in it but also underlining of the fact that secularism was not dead in Ayodhya. But today, on the 27th anniversary of the demolition of the Babri mosque I am not so sure, specially after the Supreme Court judgment on November 9, 2019, handing over mosque site to those who had razed the mosque. The moral of the story is that whatever criminals could not achieve on December 6, 1992, is legitimized by the highest court of justice of India.

The short report is being produced in full, courtesy to The Sunday Times of India.

December 6, 2019

{Dr. Shamsul Islam, Political Science professor at Delhi University (retired).}

Publication
Date: Jan 17, 1993

Publication Name: The Sunday Times of India, Delhi.

By Shamsul Islam

A visit to Ayodhya, more than a month after the December 6
tragedy, reminds one of the hunted city. It is a city under siege by
paramilitary forces. They are on high alert. What is to be guarded now? Nobody
knows. The deep wounds of carnage and plunder are still visible.

The walls of Ayodhya are still covered with sectarian war
cries in Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, etc. The claims of the champions of
Hindutva,  that the police and military
are with them are still engraved on the walls of the city-mocking the secular
state.

You have to be in Ayodhya to realize that the tragedy was
far more than the demolition off a mosque. Away from Ayodhya, the only
dimension off the tragedy which we heard related to the demolition of a
structure of bricks and mud. We overlooked the human tragedy, the human carnage
and plunder caused by zealots of Dharma. Ayodhya symbolizes the fact that human
flesh is the cheapest commodity around.

While moving towards Ayodhya, you chance upon a refugee camp
just on the outskirts of the holy cit. It is being run at Badu Bua ki Masjid
(Old Aunt’s mosque), which houses an orphanage too. More than 1500 refugee,
males, females and children of all age groups are packed like sardines here. A
similar number of refuges have been sheltered in Quresh nursery camp in
Fazibad. Most of them are wage-earners, petty shopkeepers, vendors, cycle
repair walls, rickshaw-pullers and their dependents. They are being fed and
clothed through community donations. The state was gracious enough to donate
130 blankets.

Soul chilling: The stories of barbaric destruction and
sadistic killings are should-chilling. Everything which belonged to
approximately 4500 inhabitants belonging to the minority community in Ayodhya
was singled out to be burnt. The vandals at work had minute details of such
properties, assets and religious place. They were very methodical in destroying
properties.

Incidentally, the crusaders of Hindutva did not even spare a
“good Musalman” by the name of Husni Vilaiti Haider. Son of the big zamindar of
Ayodhya, he had led delegation of Muslims to Murli Manohar Joshi offering
themselves for kar seva some weeks back. He had also donated a large chunk of
land to the VHP trust for Ram Mandir. But these credentials did not apparently
wash. Hundreds of refugees are ready to vouch for the bitter truth that the
provincial police force was not a silent spectator. They actively joined the
kar sevak. The policy control room of Ayodhya was taken over by kar sevaks on
December 4 itself, they allege. The wireless sets were at their disposal.

Local Help: However, it is really heartening to know from
the terror-stricken refugees that local residents of Ayodhya were not involved
in any of these barbaric deads. In fact, dozens of local Hindus took all kinds
of risks to save Muslim neighbors.  Many
refugees acknowledge the help of one Yadav Pahalwan of Mohalla Shikhana. But by
December 3, most of such “bad elements” had been neutralized by kar sevaks
through threats, bashing and social boycott. Yadav Pehlwan was also taught a
lesson. He was attacked and injured.

You enter Ayodhya. Though day curfew was relaxed a couple of
days back, nobody seems to be around. After going around quite a few damaged
monuments, shops and houses, one comes across a big house, near from the
demolished Babri Masjid, which seems to have been “bombarded”. All walls
standing almost infact while all roofs have fallen. You prepare to take snaps.
Suddenly you see a middle aged women searching for something in the rubbles.
You are told that it was once here home.

Part of it was destroyed on December 5, on the 6th evening
it was plundered and on the forenoon of the 7th it was blasted with the help
off petrol bombs and chemicals.

The tasks was accomplished by the same group which was seen
demolishing the Babri Masjid the day before. It was led by a bearded chap who
used to command the group through a whistle. She also recounts that on December
7 she and her family members were rescued by the Hindu CRPF officer who hid
them in truck and took them to safety in Faizabad. She returned with her
teenage son to Ayodhya only on the 29th December and was the first family to do
so.

She is bewildered at the turn of events. But she is sure of
one thing – “Whatever may be hardships, we shall stay here. Let us see for how
long Congress and BJP keep on playing this game. We shall not leave. It is our
motherland. It is our home. Why should we go? It is not somebody’s freedom. It
is belongs to others, it belongs to us also. We were born here, we have lived
here and we will die here.”

There are others too who are returning to the heap of rubble
that had been their home, and that will hopefully be their home again.

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