A Brief History Of Shri Ram Temple Dispute - Part 3

Demolition of the Mughal Architecture of Babri Masjid-

Despite the several efforts by major Hindu organizations for building the Temple on the disputed site, the process by the court was very slow as compared to the fire in the heart of every Hindu. On 6^th December 1992, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliates organized a rally involving 150,000 Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) Kar Sevaks at the sites of the disputed structure. The ceremonies included speeches by BJP leaders such as L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, and Uma Bharti. During the first few hours of the rally, the crowd grew gradually more restless and began raising slogans. A police cordon had been placed around the structure in preparation for the attack.

However, around noon, a young man managed to slip past the cordon and climb the structure itself, brandishing a saffron flag. This was seen as a signal by the crowd, who then stormed the structure. The Police cordon, vastly outnumbered and unprepared for the size of the attack, fled. The Islamic structure was attacked with several improvised tools. The crowd set upon the building with axes, hammers, and grappling hooks, and within a few hours, the entire structure, made from mud and chalk, was brought to the ground. This occurred despite a commitment from the state government to the Indian Supreme Court that the mosque would not be harmed. More than 200 People were killed in the riots following the demolition. Riots broke out in the major Indian cities including Mumbai, Bhopal, Delhi, and Hyderabad which resulted in 2000 deaths.  The Mumbai Riots which occurred in December 1992 and January 1993 in which Shiv Sena played a major role, caused the death of around 900 people and estimated property damage of around ₹ 9000 Crore. While fighting for their rights, Hindus also faced terror attacks like the 1993 Mumbai bombings and various other ones as a part of Radical Islamic Terrorism.

On 16^th December 1992, the Liberhan Commission was set up by the Government of India to probe the circumstances that led to the demolition of Babri Masjid. It was the longest-running commission in India's history with several extensions granted by various government which took 399 sittings over sixteen years and submitted its 1,029-page report to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 30^th June 2009. The Report found some people culpable in the demolition, including BJP leaders like Late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, the then Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, Pramod Mahajan, Uma Bharti, and Vijaraje Scindia, as well as  VHP Leaders like Giriraj Kishore and Ashok Singhal. Other prominent political leaders indicted by the commission include late Shiv Sena chief Shri Bala Saheb Thackeray and former RSS leader K.N. Govindacharaya. Relying on the testimonies of several eyewitnesses, the report stated that many of these leaders had made provocative speeches at the rally that provoked the demolition. It also stated that they could have stopped the demolition if they had wished so.

But when a person visualizes all these things from the beginning he could find that this was the outburst of the anger which Hindus had in their heart for a long time. The situation could be compared with a similar one, when a group of goons come to your home and loot it, further they destruct your home and build their structure on your land, keep you out of it just because you were not capable enough to fight with them and your religion was different. A similar feeling with a large scale was prevailing in the hearts of millions of Hindus, which later got more inflamed by the decisions of that time Government and delays by the courts.

Many Muslim organizations have continued to express outrage at the destruction of the disputed structure. In July 2005, Terrorists attacked the makeshift temple at the site of the destroyed mosque. In 2007, M.N. Gopal Das, the then head of the Ram temple, received a phone call making threats against his life.  Many terror attacks by banned jihadi outfits like Indian Mujahideen cited demolition of the Babri Mosque as an excuse for terrorist attacks. The legal case continues regarding the title deed of the land tract which is a Government controlled property.

A 2009 report, authored by Justice Manmohan Singh Liberhan, found 68 people to be responsible for the demolition of Masjid, mostly leaders from BJP. Among those named were Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Shri Lal Krishna Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, and Vijay Raje Scindia. Kalyan Singh, who was the then chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, also faced severe criticism in the report. Liberhan wrote that he posted bureaucrats and police officers to Ayodhya, whose record indicated that they would stay silent during the mosque’s demolition. The reports note that at this time several BJP leaders made "feeble requests to the Kar Sevaks to come down". It further noted: “This selected act of the leaders itself speaks of the hidden intentions of one and all being to accomplish the demolition of the disputed structure”.


NOTE: References to all the parts of this article are placed together at the end of part 5.


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