By AW Siddiqui
On 6 December 1992; a 500 years old mosque was demolished by Hindu fanatics. The demolition was planned and organised by fascist organisations called Vishwa Hindu Parishad, RSS and Bhartiya Janta Party.
Now let’s try to think of what could possibly have happened if this incident took place in a civilised part of the world?
The culprits would have been arrested and charged. If found guilty; they would have been jailed.
A civil suit would have followed the verdict, and the court would have ordered the culprits to pay the damages. If they couldn’t, their properties or assets would have been sold by the authorities to collect the damages, and paid to the owners/trustees of the mosque. The mosque would have been rebuilt.
This is how the civilised world would have dealt with the incident.
It doesn’t always happens like that because most of the buildings and assets in the western hemisphere are insured, and the insurance companies end up paying the rebuilding cost. But the cases like Babri Mosque are limited to arson rather than complete destruction.
Moreover, an old structure like Babri Mosque would have been heritage listed, and the government would have rebuild or repaired it.
But India is not a ‘civilised’ country. The best I would call it is semi-civilised. About half of its population lacks common and civic sense. Politicians are mostly thieves and extremely self-cantered. It will be a misplaced expectation to think that they will do the right thing.
In case of Babri mosque, they are doing the opposite. Instead of jailing the culprits and rebuilding the mosque, they want to build a temple on the land where mosque once stood.
How come?
Someone pointed out that Rama, a Hindu lord, was born right at the spot where the mosque was, on 10th January 5114 (someone in ‘andher-nagrí’ has worked out the exact date). So the Rama temple has to be built right at that spot.
But how did they work that Rama was born right at that spot?
Good question. I don’t think they do. There are two existing temples, not too far from the mosque site, which is supposedly at the spot where Rama was born. Moreover, some learned Indians question the very existence of lord Rama. But that doesn’t matter. They brought archaeologists (probably paid) to find some sort of evidence that has some sort of linkage, to a possible temple, that probably existed in that place, at some point of time - a reason good enough for some to destroy the mosque and build a temple.
But is that the only reason they destroyed the mosque?
Oh no! Not at all.
While growing in India, I never heard of such a thing called ‘Babri mosque’. To me, the term came out of nowhere, and became popular very quickly. Obviously someone, or some group, made it a big issue. And within a very short time, it became a common Indians’ issue.
But who made it a common Indians’ issue?
There is a political party in India called Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). It’s similar to Nazi party or Zionist movement. It used to be called Bharatiya Jana Sangh or Jan Sangh.
Jan Sangh was not an average political party as we understand. It was a political wing of an umbrella organisation called Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).
Predominantly a traders’ political party, Jan Sangh use to have only a couple of seats in the Indian Parliament. Fully guided and controlled by RSS, it didn’t appear to be in a rush to increase the numbers in Parliament. Their focus was to establish a solid network across the geographic regions and government hierarchy before endeavouring to form a national government. And they took their time – about 60 years - to have the ground work ready. Given the low intellectual capacity of average Indians; RSS knew that winning adequate seats in parliament and taking control of the government will be easy.
On 6 April 1980; Jan Sangh was renamed to Bhartiya Janata Party. Though not yet ready to take control, it was about time to start gearing up for that moment. The new name was to provide a new image – that its not a party just for the traders.
Finally; the time arrived. A mile stone in RSS’ timeline was nearing. The 2014 election had to be won, and the work has to start to achieve that outcome. The minds of the simple, average Indians has to be reprogrammed.
And what could be more effective than manipulating the masses’ core belief called religion.
Indians were told that there is a place in Ayodhya where lord Rama was born, that there used to be a temple there, that a king called Babur demolished that temple and built a mosque in its place, that the mosque needs to be demolished and a grand temple built in its place.
There was no need to check the facts – the facts that do not exist. So the facts had to be created and pushed through the minds.
Fast forward; the 500 year old mosque, and a historic monument, was destroyed, and no one was punished. The planners and organisers of the demolition, the BJP/RSS, won 2014 parliamentary election and formed the central government. The planned outcome was realised - the milestone was achieved.
Building of the Rama temple was put to the back burner. There was no need to talk about Rama mandir until the next election.
About 5 years has passed, and the general election will be held in April/May 2019. Mandir-masjid issue needs to be reintroduced to ‘stupid’ voters. There isn’t anything more effective than Rama mandir to polarise the voters. Its a trump card.
And, it has started. Well paid Sadhus and Sunts have been mobilised. They have started talking about the urgency to build the temple. Sant Paramhans Das has gone on hunger strike for the temple. Sri sri Ravi Shankar has started speaking about it. 'Sant Sammelan' in Talkatora has announced mega conventions in three cities. RSS and BJP leaders have started talking about it. Ram mandir has to be built, said one. No power can stop the temple construction, said other. Sold out TV channels are busy programming our minds, through favourable discussions on mandir-masjid issue, with the sole intention of bringing more votes to BJP.
They have put lord Rama back into their business. They have started selling him again - for votes.
How Rama would have dealt with these greedy, immoral, dishonest and self-centered politicians if he was here in Delhi? Would he have punished them for selling his name to buy the votes? Would he have been childish and proud, and patted their backs for the ‘bhavya mandir’ they may build?
I don’t think its hard to guess the answer.
