Lores has it
that Babur, the first Mughal emperor of India ordered his commander, Mir Baqi
to build Babari Masjid in 1528. He
ordered its construction to celebrate the conquest of Hindustan and further
demolished a temple to architect Babri masjid at that place. The travel blog of
Joseph Tiefenthaler between 1743-1785 establishes the fact that Hindus
worshipped the location where there is the construction of the mosque, and they
celebrated Ram Navami where they collected and gave offerings at the site. Also, the akharas, especially the Nirmohi
akhara, which claims to be the proprietor of the site believes the fact that
there is Ram Janmasthanam below the three-domed structure.
Commencement of the dispute in the 1850s
The first
recorded instances when the communal violence started in 1855 when clashes
occurred between Sunni Muslims and Bairagis(followers) over the temple of
Hanumangarhi contending that the Bairagis built the temple by destroying the
mosque that existed atop it. The Muslims charged on the temple but were
repelled and routed and took shelter in Babar's mosque. In vengeance, the Bairagis
rushed to the mosque and outnumbered them. Later a three-membered commission
was set up which negated the contentions of the Muslim in its entirety.
Everything was all under control until the incident of 1949, which the Muslim community observed as a 'black day'.
Black Day of 1949
From 1857 till
1949, the Muslims offered namaaz at their holy worship place until the place
was desecrated by the installation of Hindu deity idols, late night of 22nd
December 1949, which engendered colossal resentment within the Muslim
community. This agitation which was a
local dispute was gradually morphing into a nationalistic issue with a blend
and hues of a political quotient. Jawahar Lal Nehru was of the view that the
idols should be removed from there immediately as it has hurt the religious
emotions of the community.
Events after 1949
KK Naiyyar, the
then District Magistrate, defied the orders of Jawahar Lal Nehru, by not
removing the idols on the pretext that a there was stark chances of a culpable
riot. An injunction was passed in 1950 restraining the removal of idols which
was further affirmed by the high court in 1955. The worshipping of idols was
allowed. The inner courtyard was locked, and there was a prohibition of the
public from entering the disputed area. It was in the year 1961 that Sunni Waqf
board filed a suit claiming the possession of the land through a civil
petition. So, to consolidate it all, Allahabad HC clubbed all the petitions.
No such
agitations took place until 1975. Meanwhile, Vishwa Hindu Parishad was formed to
embolden the Hindu faith and beliefs worldwide. It started getting support from
everywhere throughout the country.
VHP became a frontal face in the movement
which supported the demolition of the structure and formation of the temple.
Later, Bhartiya Janata Party also jumped the band-wagon along with VHP, RSS and
were collectively known as a part of Sangh Parivar. It started organizing
rath-yatras throughout the country trying to raise public sentiment and
emotional urges.
The formation of Ram Janam Bhoomi Mukti Yojana
Samiti in 1984 brought life to their efforts. Simultaneously, the Tala Kholo
movement of VHP was initiated to spur the public and force the administration
to open the locks of the gate, which continued till mid-1985.
In an order
dated 1st February 1986, the district judge ordered to open the locks of the
priorly locked gates. In confrontation to this, the Muslims set up their own
All India Babri Masjid Action Committee on 15th February 1986. A point worth
mentioning was that no member of the Muslim community from Ayodhya was a part
of any committee formed for doing protests and opening locks. Ayodhya became
such a city with the aura where provocative speeches and extreme emotions
became ubiquitous. The Muslim community also matched the group mobilization,
which the Sangh Parivar was trying to create.
Events Between 1989-1992
In February
1989, the Sants decided that the foundation stone of Ram Temple will erect on
10th November 1989. The Shila pujan will span 3-5 days in ever villages, and
finally, there would be a collection of shilas throughout the nation and Maha
Yagya will mark the culmination of the pujan.
Later next
year, Lal Krishna Advani announced the onset of rath yatra from Somnath Temple,
Gujarat on 25th September 1990 and was to reach Ayodhya on 30th October 1990.
This huge procession was organized to mobilize people throughout the nation,
mainly the northern part of India. This procession led to communal riots at
certain places throughout the route to such a great extent that orders of the
arrest of LK Advani and other leaders in Bihar.
Also, caveats
were proclaimed that if there is any impediment brought in the rath yatra or
the movement so organized, the country will witness an unprecedented uproar.
BJP withdrew its support from Janata Dal Govt. which urged fresh elections,
which further led BJP to gain power in the 1990s.
6th December 1992 was the decided date for the
commencement of the mass movement. Inciteful speeches were given by LK Advani,
Uma Bharti and other prominent leaders of that time in the presence of 1,50,000
- 2,00,000 karsevaks which spurred the public to rush towards the mosque.
Although the security was tight, the karsevaks outnumbered the police force.
The karsevaks, brimmed with communal fervor, created a frenzy and stormed the
mosque heavily and brought it down the in no time.
Consequences of The Incident
This incident
begot riots which witnessed the killing of more than 2000 people. It portrayed
a cataclysmic upheaval in front of the whole nation. A one-person commission
under Justice M.L. Liberhan was set up on 16th December 1992 to put a detailed enquiry on what were the circumstances which led to such overt large-scale
riots and who were the peoples responsible for it. Later the next year the
central government brought 'Acquisition of Certain Area at Ayodhya Act' on 3rd
April 1993 through which the central government acquired 67.7 acres of land to
maintain public harmony between the Hindu and Muslim communities.
Legal issues after the 1992 incident
In the year
2010, Allahabad HC came up with judgment, regarding the dispute on the
ownership of the land and it ordered a three-way division of the disputed area
between Hindu Mahasabha, Sunni Waqf Board and Nirmohi Akhara which was stayed
by the SC on 9th May 2011. On 7th August 2017, a three-judge bench was formed
to review the HC verdict which was further referred to a five-judge bench which
started the final hearing from 6th August 2019 till 16th October 2019. The final judgment came on 9th November 2019 where SC adjudicated that the land
should be handed over to the trust to build the temple and any other plot of
land measuring 5 acres should be given to Sunni Waqf Board to build the mosque.
SC while giving
its verdict said that the findings by the Archaeological Survey of India could not
be brushed aside. Hindus believed that the inner courtyard of the mosque was the
birthplace of Lord Rama and it was an established fact that Hindus worshipped
in the outer courtyard and Muslims in the inner courtyard. Regarding the
ownership of the inner courtyard, no evidence by Muslims shows an exclusive
possession before 1857. The believed fact that the inner courtyard was the
birthplace tilted the case in their favor.
CONCLUSION-
Ayodhya, a
place of reverence for many faiths for millennia also became a place of
violence, bloodshed, and ill-will. It created a spot in national consciousness
after the Babari Masjid demolition incident. The lesson which we can imbibe
from this issue is plenty.
Politics and
the power given to the politicians should be used in a productive way to serve
the nation and its people. However, this incident epitomized that the negligent
and malafide use of power by the leaders and prominent personalities mainly to
serve the selfish interest of certain groups and cohorts denigrated the image
of the country.
Judiciary
handled the situation in the best way possible by maintaining peace and
tranquility and dispensing justice, both simultaneously. Though the judiciary
took more than 20 years to dispense justice, it gave the best decision possible
of such a delicate issue and solved the dispute by the recent judgment, in the
most unbiased way possible.
Siddharth Srivastava
Batch of 2023
B.A.LL.B
Law School, BHU
Email Id- sidsri0708@gmail.com
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