(Samaj Weekly)
– Vidya Bhushan Rawat
On December 6th, 1992, it was not just Babari Masjid that was razed to the ground but also the spirit of the Constitution of India. Those of us, who have followed these cases and the vicious movement led by the Sangh parivar in the 1990s for the Ram Janam Bhumi know that they had least faith in the judiciary. After the demolition, none of the leaders except Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Jaswant Singh expressed regret otherwise all of them were actually wanting to take ‘credit’ for the demolition. The hero of course was Kalyan Singh but in the brahmanical manipulation of the party, he found himself out from the dominant position otherwise there was a time when he felt himself as the fit candidate for the prime minister of India. Each of them have written and spoken a million times about their role in the demolition of the mosque and they continue to do so but unfortunately the CBI judge Mr Yadav was unable to hear the voice, the video and the conspiracy to demolish the mosque.
The newspapers, magazines, videos, public meetings everything is available. Lal Krishna Advani had actually compared the Ram Janam Bhumi movement to India’s independence. This is how they built up narrative around. If there is a lawlessness in the country and fake narratives are flying high in the air, the main culprit of this is Lal Krishna Advani who wanted to fill his prime ministerial ambitions and failed in doing so. Even when he claimed that he was the best friend of Vajpayee, there was an internal competition and Advani always felt that it was he and not Vajpayee, who built BJP and therefore he has got bigger right to lead the party. We all know that Advani’s w(rath) yatra left a trail of blood everywhere it passed through. It is a well known fact that when power of Mandal forces was unleashed the Sangh Parivar decided to take this through the Ram Mandir issue and a new set of leaders emerged from the OBC communities.
Justice Librahan who headed the commission to investigate into the Ayodhya demolition gave an interview and said categorically that there was a conspiracy and people knew it well that the masjid will be demolished but strangely the CBI court rejected all the conspiracy theories and all the ‘accused’ were declared ‘baaijjat bari’. The fault is not with the CBI judge but in the air around us now. The Supreme Court had already given the verdict paving the way for the construction of the temple. It was clear that Court’s were doing the work of the ‘executive’ and tried to strike a balance but in all this the issue of rule of law or constitutionality got stuck somewhere. It is not the matter of striking a balance for executive but the issue of constitutionality and legality. We all know that after the demolition of the Babari Masjid, the then prime minister Narsimha Rao addressed the nation on the TV and radio and promised to rebuild the mosque. This was a promise by the head of the state but over the years so much of the narratives have been build that no political party could actually reiterate this view point and most of them accepted the fate that we can not antagonise the ‘Hindus’. So rule of law and constitutionality was closely associated with the ‘Hindu’ sentiments and somewhere even the courts could not go beyond that.
Though Supreme Court judgement called the demolition illegal and unconstitutional and therefore there was ample scope for the lower judiciary to look into this affair from the conspiracy angle and bring before the nation why it happened. We should not forget that on the same day, some body filed a case at a Mathura court related to Lord Krishna’s birth place though the court dismissed it out rightly.
The CBI court judgement is a trend which reflect nothing except state of our judiciary which has time for Arnab Goswami everytime he come. The same judiciary listen to the issue of Sudarshan TV and now an important judge Justice K M Joseph is removed from the bench for the next hearing. The cases of riots in Delhi are open and we know organisations like Amnesty have been compelled to leave India. So Arnab has freedom of expression but not Anand Telbumbde or Sudha Bharadwaj who continue to languish in the over crowded jails with courts showing little concern about their conditions. For smaller issues people are facing serious charges but courts have not been able to contain our highhanded police who are being encouraged by the ruling party leaders to go after the opponents.
So the Ayodhya verdict did not surprise me. It might have surprised many who were expecting miracles but not those who have seen the trends in the air. There is enough poison in the air and we hope the political climate will change and people will stand up and speak against wrongs. Let us hope that ultimately our institutions, our courts will respond aggressively on these issues and seek accountability. Some of the high courts have done commendable work in this regard.
The demolition of Babari Masjid was a crime against our constitution and its values. These are well documented facts and we hope one day the truth will be legally accepted. We don’t know how long this battle go on but at least what is important legally is the acceptance of the fact that a wrong happened which endangered our national integrity and unity of our people. Just accepting a bitter truth will not hamper anything but only build the confidence of our minorities in our constitution that it care for them and is capable of protecting them. We hope our constitution will remain rock solid and one day will prove its strength. We will definitely wait for that day when the supremacy of the constitution is restored. We shall wait for that day.
