Political Implications of the Demolition of the Babri Mosque

by the Association of Indian Progressive Study Groups (AIPSG), New York, 13 December 1992

The destruction of the Babri Mosque on 6 December 1992
was not only a calculated affront to the honor and sentiments of
all Indians but a deliberate attempt to prepare the ground for even
greater tragedies.

Over one thousand people have been killed in incidents of
violence throughout India. There has been a tendency to label
these incidents as "Hindu-Muslim riots," but as is typical in most
instances of communal violence, there is mounting evidence that
many people killed have actually been the victims of police
gunfire. Why has such violence been used against innocent
people? One wonders what stopped the government and the
security forces from maintaining the peace and preventing the
demolition of the mosque as the terrible events of 6 December
were unfolding. Why has such tolerance been shown toward the
attackers in Ayodhya, who were permitted, for over a day an a
half, to demolish the mosque, build the "temple foundation," and
leave the city in special buses and trains without being appre-
hended, even after the state had been under direct president's rule
for more than twenty-four hours? It is hard to understand how,
despite such questions, the prime minister of India, P. V. Nar-
asimha Rao, could claim at a recent news conference that he did
not feel in any way responsible for what took place.

It should never be forgotten that it was a Congress (I)
government that presided over the rekindling of the dispute in
1986 when the mosque was reopened. Successive central gov-
ernments and the present Congress (I) government in particular
deliberately presented the Ayodhya issue as a dispute between
some Hindu and Muslim leaders and experts, with the govern-
ment trying to "strike a deal" between the "two sides." This was
one of the main ways this diversionary issue was willfully
dragged out and communalized.

Official culpability must also be situated in another, more
compelling context. It is unfortunate that the Indian state and its
successive governments have, in various acts of commission and
omission, been one of the main factors in the communalization
of life in recent years. The Meerut (1987), as well as Nellie
(1983), Delhi (1984), and Bhadalpur (1989) massacres are just
some of the examples that have been well documented. What
needs emphasis is that nobody has been brought to justice,
especially not the police and the paramilitary who were involved.
With the tone being set from the highest levels of society, it is
hard to avoid reaching the conclusion that the Indian police and
the paramilitary's well-known communal animus is, if not offi-
cially sanctioned, certainly tolerated in a broad way. If no one
from the Uttar Pradesh police and the Provincial Armed Con-
stabulary (PAC) was charged with the Malliana and Hashimpura
killings in 1987, despite overwhelming evidence of their in-
volvement is it surprising that the same security forces were seen
egging on the destruction of the Babri Mosque? Why would the
government not want to punish those involved in instances of
communal violence?

For its part, the leadership of the BJP must be held fully
accountable for the consequences of its irresponsible and
malevolent politics. Now that a 450-year-old place of worship
has been so senselessly demolished, all Indians and particu-
larly the supporters of this party should ask themselves what
problem this has solved for the people? For a time longer than
since the BJP leaders have been pushing their divisive and
diversionary agenda, the people of India have been struggling
to establish a rule where their fundamental rights could be
enshrined and realized. It is shameful that forty-five years after
independence so many of our countrywomen and men are
condemned to hover on the brink of utter destitution, and it is
even more shameful that rather than making this the issue, the
leaders of the BJP tried to divert the people's attention toward
a nonissue. Besides sharing responsibility for countless lives
lost in various incidents of violence, the leadership of the BJP
must surely stand guilty of helping to ensure that the problems
of our people remain unsolved.

The Indian government has announced the arrest of Advani,
Joshi, and various others for sedition and for inciting ...