AYODHYA VERDICT
Brief History
Ayodhya is considered the beginning place of Lord Rama, who is also known as ‘Seventh Incarnation’ of “God Vishnu”. The site is considered a blessed place, where ‘Moksha can also be obtained’.
In 1528, Mir Baqi a general of Babur, demolished the temple and built a mosque on the land. Until the interference of British both Muslims and Hindus peacefully worshipped at the place without any kind of violence, the Muslims worshipped inside the mosque and Hindus outside the mosque. But the Britishers placed a fence between the areas of worship which manipulated the situation and further after the independence the Hindus placed an idol of Lord Rama inside the mosque which triggered the situation even more. The then Prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru ordered the officials to remove the idols but the local officer K.K Nair refused to do so. The officials locked the gates for the public, the idols remained inside and priests worshipped daily. The Sunni Wakf Board and ABRM filed civil suits to claim the right over the site.
Political Relations & scenario
If Muslims are at liberty to have their specific Islamic place of worship in Mecca, the Christians are entitled to their place in Vatican, then why can’t the Hindus have their worshipping place or a sacred place of belief in Ayodhya? this was the main question raised by many different leaders at that time.
In September 1990, a ‘Rath Yatra’ began to Ayodhya in order to gather support of people; it was started by well-known BJP leader L.K Advani. This pilgrimage procession or rath yatra caused riots in different cities which resulted in Bihar Government arresting L.K Advani. In retaliation of the arrest a lot of Kar Sevak’s reached the mosque to demolish it but were stopped by the local police and Para military force. This led to fall to V.P Singh Government as BJP pulled back its support and fresh election were done where BJP won with majority in UP legislative assembly.
After two years, another rally was organised on 6th December 1992, it involved around 1.5 lakh people or Kar Sevak’s. Many big and influential leaders led the rally with their powerful speeches, like L.K Advani, Murli Manohar, and Uma Bharti etc. This time the police was outnumbered which resulted in demolition of the mosque, the people were equipped with diverse tools with which they brought down the mosque within hours and nobody could stop them. It was the worst nightmare of the central government which became true. The State Government was asked to protect the mosque and they assured the Supreme Court of India that no harm will be done to the mosque but that assurance proved to be a slack. This act provoked the people all around the country and many riots all over the country took place mainly in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad etc.
On December 16th, 1992 a commission known as Liberian Commission was set up by the government to see the matter and find out the main players behind such act. The report pointed out several powerful leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L.K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, the then CM of UP also Kalyan Singh, Pramod Mahajan, Uma Bharti etc. many fingers were raised upon the late Shiv Sena leader Balasaheb Thackeray, several eye witnesses claimed that these people made infuriating speeches because of which riots and demolition took place and it could be stopped if they wished so. In retaliation to the scenario, terrorist attacked many cities and places making excuse of the demolition of the mosque as their shield.
Excavation Result
The Archaeological Survey of India did its excavations in 1970, 1992, 2003 after the order of Indian Court to find out that did the Ram Mandir existed beneath the mosque or it was the mosque from the past only. The ASI found some remains of a Hindu temple beneath the mosque, they stated that it cannot be told exactly that if it was a Ram mandir or not but temple remains are been found beneath the mosque and it resembles the temples of north India.
Verdict
The Allahabad High Court stated that there will be three parts where one will be given to Sunni Wakf Board, second to Muslim tenets, and third to Hindus for their temple. But recently the Supreme Court ruled out that judgement and handed over the land to Hindus for their temple and gave additional five acres of land to Muslims for the mosque.
“Absent the faith and belief of the devotees, the land holds no distinguishing features that could be recognised by this court as evidence of a manifestation of God at the disputed site. It is true that in matters of faith and belief, the absence of evidence may not be the evidence if absence”, this was the statement given by the Supreme Court of India.
The Court gave judgement on the beliefs as no one was able to prove a strong fact that either it was a Ram Mandir before then demolished for mosque or it was a mosque from the beginning only. As all the Hindu puranas state Ayodhya as birth place of Lord Ram but no one states that he was born on that particular site, on the other hand Muslims were unable to prove that during 1500 to 1700 there was use of the mosque. No strong fact was brought up hence the Court favoured the beliefs and excavation results and gave the land to Hindus, it believed that dividing the land into three parts would not solve the issue and there could be another issue in the long term, therefore it gave additional five acres of land to Muslims for their mosque. This also led peace and harmony as otherwise there could be more riots in the country and more attempts could be made by some people to demolish the mosque again.
This dispute which was prevailing from decades has been finally brought to an end, making both the communities happy and giving both of them lands for their religious places. This dispute has been taken by many political parties as their agenda to win the elections, now as the dispute is over, we can see the parties fairly and choose right one for us on their real developmental agendas not on any religious basis.
by – ojasvi madan
