The dastardly deed is done - India shamed before the world community and a blot left on Indian History that is irreversible. The most frightening aspect of the entire episode is that a Chief Minister and his party (being the country's principal opposition party), has betrayed the Apex Court of our Nation, thereby intentionally and blatantly disregarding the rule of law. And our Prime Minister, Shri.P.V.Narsimha Rao, has inexorably proved that reluctance to act when he must in order to avoid a national disaster, could be fatal- economically and socially. To briefly trace the history of the disputed structure, one has to go back in time when Babar, the first Moghul Emperor is said to have constructed the structure in year 1528 in place of a Hindu temple of Ram Lallla, said to mark the birth place of lord Ram. It was in the year 1883 that the Deputy Commissioner of Faizabad refused to grant permission for construction of a temple at the disputed site following objections from the members of the minority community. To aggravate matters, the civil judge at Faizabad ruled on March 23,1946, that the Babari Mosque had been built by Babar and that there was evidence to prove that it had been used by both Shias and Sunnis for prayers. The issue came to head when on the night of December 22,1949, idols of Lord Ram, Lakshman and Sita were found installed in the structure and the District Magistrate ordered the place closed. This was followed by communal violence. Neither Hindu nor Muslim were allowed inside the structure and both sides entered into litigation to gain rights for entry to the disputed structure. Matters rolled on thereafter until the communalists and politicians decided to enter the drams and raise the bone of contention for gaining access to political vote banks. Thus the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (V.H.P.) and the All India Babari Masjid Action Committee (A.I.B.M.A.C.) came to represent the Hindus and the Muslim respectively. And later, India saw the Bharatiya Janata Party (B.J.P) the principal opposition party entering the fray and go on an orgy of Rath Yatras to capture the imagination of the misguided zealots of India. Approximately a month before December 6,1992, the B.J.P., V.H.P., R.S.S., Bajrang Dal decided to perform Kar Seva on the disputed land. The Prime Minister tried his utmost to bring about a conciliation between the V.H.P. and the A.I.B.M.A.C. and on November 15, 1992 gave an assurance to the Babari Masjid Committee that Kar Seva would be stopped and the next day i.e. November 16,1992, the Government decided to refer the historical evidence to the Supreme Court with the B.J.P. and V.H.P. expressing their displeasure to that. It was on November 29, 1992 that the B.J.P. Government in Uttar Pradesh, headed by Shri.Kalyan Singh, gave an undertaking to the Supreme Court that Kar Seva would be limited to chanting of bhajans and kirtans only and that no kind of construction or any other activity would take place on the disputed land. On December 1st, 1992, there were uproarious scenes in Parliament because the Prime Minister dispatched the Central Reserve Police to Faizabad without the Uttar Pradesh Government's request or approval. On December 5th,1992, the V.H.P. Secretary General, Ashok Singhal was reported to have made a statement to the effect that, "the only meaning of Kar Seva was construction." On December 6th,1992, history was created when the Kar Sevaks destroyed the Babari Masjid and razed the disputed structure to the ground. As a natural corollary to this event, communal riots spread through the by-lanes of Ayodhya and many innocent families were destroyed. Curfew was clamped on the twin towns of Ayodhya and Faizabad. Thereafter, violence spread throughout the Indian Sub-Continent spilling over to other parts of the world, e.g. London, Bangladesh. In Pakistan 60 Hindu temples were reported to be tampered with aided by help from the ruling party. The Central Government in an effort to save face invoked Article 356 and dismissed the BJP Governments in the States of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh (earlier Kalyan Singh the Chief Minister of U.P. had resigned). Furthermore, in a bid to show firmness, Shri.L.K.Advani, Shri.Murli Manohar Joshi and Shri.Ashok Singhal amongst others were arrested and the V.H.P., R.S.S. Bajrang Dal, Jammat-e-Islami etc., were banned. On December 11th,1992, the Allahabad High Court gave a verdict against the erstwhile B.J.P. ruled U.P. State Government by holding the state acquisition on the 2.77 acres of land adjoining the disputed structure to be violative of Articles 14, 15, 25 and 26 of the Indian Constitution, Justice S.C.Mathur, Brajesh Kumar and S.H.A.Raza J.J. delivered the lengthy judgement striking down the state of U.P.'s acquisition as illegal. India has still not recovered from the after-effects of a horrendous betrayal. The repercussions of this political imbroglio, simmering over the last four centuries, will undoubtedly be widespread and devastating not only on a National level, but also on an individual level. December 6th,1992, will be an unforgettable date in the minds of our children. A date they will remember unforgivingly, because in the long run, they will have to bear the brunt of- the brunt of the after effects of a tragedy which has occurred because a few, misguided zealors decided to convert Ayodhya into their personal play-ground. Truly a "Mid-Winter Madness" as Justice Bakhtawar Lentin has so aptly phrased it.
Authored by Sunita J. Masani.......... [June, 1993]