Babri Mosque
The verdict of the Allahabad High Court has proved the old adage, “If you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one”. The outcome is simply a short-term compromise that will entangle the dispute into further bad blood costing more innocent lives in future. The facts as opposed to fiction, myths, legends, superstitions and taboos are undisputable:
1. The Babri Masjid was built about 400 years ago. There is no evidence that there was a Ramjanmobhumi temple there at the time.
2. Since then dozens of sites have been claimed as the birthplace of Lord Ram, including seven different sites in Ayodhya itself. There is even a Ramjanmabhumi at Ayyuthhia in Thailand and one in Bali, Indonesia, which also claims to be Ravan's homeland in addition to Sri Lanka.
3. Immediately after the British left, a deity was surreptitiously installed inside the Babri Mosque in 1949. Result - it has been locked-up and closed for Muslim prayers since. Cases were filed that still await decisions.
4. In the aftermath of L K Advani's Yatra in the late 1980's, pressure to 'capture' the mosque gained momentum culminating in its destruction in 1992 by Hindu zealots, while the Central and State Governments twiddled their thumbs. The inevitable probes and criminal cases filed against VPPs (Very Prominent Persons) still remain in the cold storage. Two thirds has now been allotted to the majority community and one-third to the minority. All eyes are now turned on the Supreme Court.
The vital question is: is free, secular India still following the old advice of the British in respect of the minority communities?
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