AUTHOR’S NOTE: I wrote this article in March
2003, largely deriving from the substantive argument I advanced in 1992, months
ahead of the barbarous act of demolition. If you find merit in this, please
share. Let mediators like SriSriRavi and so on, find a solution that is both
constitutional and amicable. ------------------------------------------ The
Indian Muslims have suffered grievously in several crucial areas of life due to
sad aspects of the sub-continent’s history, specifically the partition. For all
fine democratic traditions of India, the country’s Muslims undoubtedly face
serious discrimination in virtually every sphere from security of life and
property to employment, banking, education, civic amenities. Gujarat genocide
and its aftermath are a painful example. Muslims, even capable and accomplished,
are forced to live in ghettos and are deprived of the fruits of modern life,
thereby perpetuating obscurantism. I have been working for the innocent victims
of the gruesome communal riots of Gujarat and have seen the helplessness and
deprivation of these Muslims. Hundreds have been killed, thousands injured and
the livelihood of lakhs jeopardized. Over two hundred Muslim religious places
have been desecrated. When their survival, their livelihood, their own
mohalla’s mosque are at stake, surely they have a say in national disputes
affecting them. I am not a religious Muslim, nor an Islamic scholar and,
therefore, have no representative capacity to speak in the name of Islam. But
since I have cried with the suffering Muslims and sacrificed much to share it
by choice, I have a right to express my point of view on the Babri Masjid Ram
Temple dispute. The current status of the Babri dispute is that there is no
conclusive evidence of Ram Janmbhoomi nor of the mosque having been built on
Ram Temple, that the dispute is sub-judice, that the Muslim activists have
undertaken to abide by the court verdict while the Hindu activists have not.
The law as it stands is in favour of the Muslims. Some Hindu leaders and
political parties have successfully managed to project the disputed structure
as the Ram Janmbhoomi, its acquisition and conversion as a symbol of Hindu
resurgence. The large mass of Hindu conscience cannot be pacified without
building a Ram Temple at the disputed site. And without the goodwill of the
Hindus Indian Muslims cannot have a good future. The Babri Masjid has become
for the Indian Muslims, even if erroneously, an icon of their identity and an
acid test of their tryst with the state of India. Its demolition has broken
many a Muslim heart, mine included, and dented their patriotism. Its forcible
conversion will necessarily alienate many Muslims which will augur badly for
the nation. Without whole hearted Muslim participation India cannot attain its
rightful destiny. But Babri Masjid, in strictly religious terms, is fortunately
no more special than the thousands of other mohalla masjids. Forsaking a claim
to it doesn’t necessarily impair the practice of Islam in India, if the
political and psychological implications of the site’s surrender are taken care
of. What is needed, therefore, is to strike a balance between these two
extremely hostile and directly contradictory perceptions. And the objective
being religious harmony and focusing the nation’s attention back on the
developmental agenda, it is necessary to eliminate and preempt all troubles of
this sort. For a lasting solution the religious leaders, the civil society and
the government must work in tandem. I propose the following action plan. Since
both the litigant parties have taken tough postures publicly their present
representative bodies cannot now sign a peace accord. New bodies, even if
ad-hoc and symbolic, must be formed. The Hindu Trust [HT] could comprise one or
more Sankaracharayas, one present or recently disassociated senior member each of
the RSS and all its major affiliates, one or more widely respected senior Hindu
statesmen like Dr Karan Singh or Swami Agnivesh etc. The Muslim Trust [MT]
could comprise one or two present or former members each from the Muslim
Personal Law Board, BMAC, leading Muslim theological institutions, chief
care-takers of the famous dargahs such as Ajmer and Nizamuddin, a respected
Muslim scholar like Maulana Waheeduddin Khan or Maulana Parekh. These two
trusts / representative bodies on behalf of their communities must publicly
commit to do the following which the government must recognize officially. 1.
The HT should unequivocally apologize to Muslims for the act of demolition of
the mosque as illegal, unconstitutional and not in keeping with the ethos of
Hinduism. 2. Even while denying that the mosque was built on a destroyed temple
site, the MT should admit that in the past temples have been destroyed by
Muslim rulers and express regret on this bad ancient practice, specifically
regretting Somnath desecration. 3. Both trusts should declare that no
conclusive archaeological evidence or legal verdict is yet available to fortify
the Hindu claim for the mosque site. induHindu 4. Both should recognize that a
perception exists in the minds of a large number of Hindus that the disputed
place is the birthplace of Shri Ramji and it is necessary to respect this
sentiment. 5. The HT should unequivocally forsake all claims to any other
religious place of Muslims, specifically naming major sites like Mathura,
Kashi, Bhojshala etc and declare that the Hindu community withdraws all claims
to all other existing Muslim religious places throughout India asking all
Hindus to honour this promise as a religious enjoinment 6. Both trusts should
agree to symbolically participate in the construction of whole or part of the
mosque and the temple, remaining within their religious dictates. 7. Acting on
a government sponsored bill the parliament must enact suitable legislation,
inter alia, making it a seriously punishable, non-bailable offence to lay claim
to any other place of worship, throwing open all ASI mosques for Muslim
worship, declaring with a list all such on-going local disputes throughout
India unlawful and restoring these sites to Muslims, and undertaking to
reconstruct and repair, at its own cost, within a reasonable time-frame all
mosques and dargahs desecrated throughout India since 1992 during communal
disturbances 8. The HT should symbolically return the site to the MT and the MT
should symbolically shift the mosque structure to a mutually agreed site about
10 KMs away, ceremoniously handing over the present site to the HT 9. This
action plan with specific deadlines should be publicly announced and officially
patronized. Irrational disputes call for unconventional responses. If peace and
harmony can return to India even through this act of give-and-take the teeming
millions of India – Hindus, Muslims and others –exert pressure upon us to do so
and to begin to fight the real enemies: poverty, illiteracy, disease and
exploitation. ------------------------------- The author, M Hasan Jowher, runs
a voluntary organization, SPRAT, and is reachable at mhj{at}sprat{dot}in March
2003
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