Mob Justice

By HAFIZ INAM | January 2020

Acountry that won freedom from the British on the premise of adding secular colour to its social fabric and rejected the religion-inspired politics of the All India Muslim Leagu, has now started shedding its secular skin. While deciding the long-awaited title suit vis-à-vis. the Babri Masjid, the Supreme Court of India has finally acquiesced to the demand of right wing Hindu nationalists of converting India into a Hindu Rashtra. The apex court has sanctioned the construction of the Ram Lalla temple on the historical site of Ayodhya which was once cherished by Muslims as a great symbol of their faith. Not only has the verdict endorsed a wrong notion of impunity amongst the perpetrators but also stirred fear among Indian Muslims of relegating them to second-class citizens as envisaged by the Hindu supremacists.

The dispute between Hindus and Muslims for the ownership of the site goes back to centuries. It all started when Mir Baqi, a commander in Babur’s army, built a mosque in the name of the emperor in 1528. Later, the Hindus disparaged the mosque as they believed it was built on the ruins of a temple that was put up to commemorate the birthplace of their deity – Ram Lalla. After the fall of the Mughal Empire and dawn of the British rule in 1857, communal differences between the Hindus and Muslims grew further. Consequently, a suit was filed in vain by Mahant Raghubar Das in 1885 seeking permission to erect the Ram Temple at the disputed site. However, the partition in 1947 changed the overall spectrum of the region, especially post-independence India, where the Hindu nationalism mantra was creeping into the society. This culminated in a communal quarrel when a mob secretly placed Ram’s idols inside the mosque in 1949 leading to the closure of the mosque for any kind of worship. In response, both the Nimrohi Akhara (a Hindu religious denomination) and the Sunni Waqf Board filed cases seeking control of the site. Since then, the matter had become a bone of contention between Hindus and Muslims in India.

The legal battle for the ownership of the site continued unnoticed inside courts until the emergence of the Bharatiya Janata Party on the national political scene in the 1980s. The BJP, which was founded by L. K. Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee who were inspired by Hindu nationalist ideologues, was championing the cause of the temple’s construction. Then BJP president L. K. Advani began the Rath Yatra on September 25, 1990 from Somnath to Ayodhya, demanding construction of the temple. His incendiary speeches, the ultra-nationalist politics of the BJP and the connivance of the ruling party – the Indian National Congress – eventually led to the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992 at the hands of thousands of Karsevaks (Hindu devotees). This was followed by a planned pogrom that engulfed 2000 lives, mainly Muslims. Hundreds of Muslim women were raped and a systematic campaign was launched to strike fear amongst Muslim ranks across India in the wake of the massacre. Since then the Babri Masjid has been in the limelight of national politics.

The Indian Supreme Court has finally settled the legal dispute by sanctioning the construction of a Ram Temple in place of the mosque which remained there for 464 years. As an act of compensation, Muslims are to be given five acres of land far from the site they owned once. Fathoming who has won the suit is not tricky, especially if one could see how jubilant were Indian news anchors when they called the verdict on national news channels, a victory of Ram or lawyers representing the Vishwa Hindu Preshad – the Hindu litigant – when they chanted “Jai Shri Ram” outside the apex court. Their gloat about the final settlement of the case reflected how important the case was for them. It was not a dispute over a mere piece of land. It was a case of restoring the secular outlook of India by holding those responsible who blatantly flouted the constitution in broad daylight, blemished the world’s largest democracy and threatened the very existence of a minority.

Unfortunately, the apex court had failed to stand tall against such a challenge by awarding the site to those who were the main culprits behind razing the historical mosque. Its collusion is evident from the fact that the verdict remained silent on the wanton demolition of the mosque. It is not surprising that the culprits who now hold important positions in BJP ranks and were behind taking down the mosque now feel invincible. L. K. Advani – the man who was leading the mob on that fateful day – said right after the verdict was announced, “It is a moment of fulfillment for me because god had given me an opportunity to make my own humble contribution to the mass movement aimed at the outcome which the verdict has made possible today.”

The verdict does not bode well for the Muslims of India who are already on edge after the reelection of PM Modi who, before assuming premiership for the first time in 2014, was rather known for his complicity in the infamous Gujrat massacre. This is not the first time the Muslims of India feel pushed to the wall under the Modi regime. Lately, the draft citizenship law has exclusively stripped Muslim refugees of Indian citizenship. Then, scrapping Articles 35-A and 370 in Kashmir and criminalizing the abandonment of wives by Muslim men has made Muslims believe that their lives, properties and religious freedom are at great risk. Now the Indian Supreme Court has substantiated the apprehensions of Indian Muslims about their peaceful co-existence in a society where national politics is largely driven by communal hatred and religious identities.

The destruction of the Babri Masjid was an act of revanchism by zealots who believed in the supremacy of the majority over the minorities. Muslims of India had hopes that justice would be served but their hopes have been turned to dust by the apex court. The verdict is nothing but a mockery of justice and serves the purpose of right wing Hindutva figureheads. Gone are the days when India was a symbol of multiculturalism and religious diversity. Their Supreme Court has set a dangerous benchmark which allows the religious majority to impose its own brand of mob justice and get away unscathed. Nonetheless, excluding the Muslims of India from the mainstream by eliminating their religious identity will have far-reaching consequences. The matter has been settled for a while, but it will continue to haunt the much-celebrated judicial system of India for decades.

The writer is associated with the Research Team at Maritime Study Forum, a think tank based in Islamabad, and writes frequently on political and social affairs surrounding the region. He can be reached at inam7118@gmail.com

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