What began as a mere "non-violent" political rally turned out to be one of the worst outbreaks of communal violence in India. 17 years later, the aftermath seems to be heading in the same direction.

- Jillian D'silva
November 25, 2009

What began as a mere "non-violent" political rally turned out to be one of the worst outbreaks of communal violence in India. 17 years later, the aftermath seems to be heading in the same direction - dividing the country into various religious camps.

On December 6, 1992, the Babri Masjid was destroyed by a rally of 150,000 Hindu nationalists, during a planned ceremony, despite a commitment by the rally organisers to the Indian Supreme Court that the mosque would not be harmed. The demolition of the mosque gave rise to a wave of communal violence between the Hindus and Muslims, resulting in the indiscriminate massacre of thousands of innocent people from both communities; an incident that still haunts many till this very day.

Now, almost two decades later, the Justice M.S. Liberhan Commission that was undertaking an investigation into the Babri Masjid case has filed a report along with the Action Taken Report (ATR) on November 24 in Parliament, following which there was uproar over the mention of former Prime Minister and veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee as being responsible for the demolition of the structure.

But before the Liberhan Commission report was filed in the Parliament, it was leaked to the media by an undisclosed source. BJP leader Arun Jaitley said either the government or the Commission leaked the report. "There is no third source," he said in the Rajya Sabha.

To that comment, Home Minister P. Chidambaram emphatically denied accusations implying that the government leaked the report saying that there is only a single copy of the report, which was in the ministry's safe custody. Refusing to comment on the authenticity of the report published by the newspaper, he stated that it is regrettable that a newspaper has printed what claims to be the contents of the report.

On being asked if he had anything to do with the leaking of the report, Justice M.S. Liberhan irritably said, "Don't challenge my character... get lost. I am not that characterless a person that I will hand over the report to the media before it being placed in Parliament."

The mood inside the Parliament wasn't any better either, as the release of the report was followed by chaos, slogan shouting and even exchange of blows between various MPs. The report was first tabled in the Lok Sabha and then in the Rajya Sabha, which had to be adjourned due to the clash between members of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), whose senior leaders like L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi have been accused.

SP general secretary Amar Singh was seen scrambling in an attempt to reclaim his party's footing in the minority zone. Amar Singh took the matter in his own hands, literally, to portray SP as the saviour of the Muslims, and countered BJP's chants of 'Jai Sri Ram' in the Rajya Sabha with shoving around of members like S.S Ahluwalia, with active support from other member of his party. Soon after some BJP members started shouting 'Jai Sri Ram' amid tabling of the Liberhan Commission report in the Upper House, an enraged Amar Singh stormed into the centre of the House and walked threateningly towards Ahluwalia. He was soon joined by other SP members, who were heard countering BJP's slogans with 'Ya Ali'.

Even though Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K. Rehman Khan adjourned the House till 2 pm, BJP and SP members continued shoving each other. Naturally, by the time the House reassembled, Amar Singh seemed to have calmed down and apologised for his disorderly behaviour, stating it was an "emotional outburst".

In a reply to the Liberhan report, the Government, in its Action Taken Report (ATR) submitted in Parliament along with the Liberhan Commission report on the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid, stated that political leaders holding office should not concurrently hold positions of responsibility in religious organisations. Justice Liberhan in his report stated, "The temptation to allow one's judgment in one sphere to influence opinions in the other is irresistible and easily leads to dissatisfaction and disenchantment in other sections of the population."

On the other hand, Kalyan Singh, who was the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister when the Babri Mosque was annihilated, said he suspected a "political conspiracy" behind the Liberhan Commission of Inquiry, which has severely charged leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the demolition. Confidentially declaring that a majestic Ram temple would be built on the site where the 16th century Babri mosque in Ayodhya was demolished on December 6, 1992, Kalyan Singh denied the charges against him by Liberhan that there was a conspiracy to bring down the mosque.

Kalyan Singh, who later quit the BJP and recently broke ranks with the Samajwadi Party, told reporters here that he was in no doubt that a grand Ram temple would be built on the site where the 16th century Babri mosque in Ayodhya was demolished on December 6, 1992. At the same time, Kalyan sought the cooperation of the Muslim community in the building of the Ram temple at the site in Ayodhya. Stating that indefinitely postponing the construction of the Ram temple will not benefit the Hindus or the Muslims or the country, Kalyan said, "There will be peace in the country (once the temple comes up), this source of tension will end. The earlier the temple is built the better it will be for the nation. The (Babri) mosque can never come up there."

Held guilty by the Liberhan Commission for inaction to prevent the destruction of the Babri mosque, he said he had told the police to use their canes or fire tear gas to disperse the hundreds of thousands of 'kar sevaks' who had gathered in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, however, making it clear that there should be no firing on them. "If I had allowed firing, then thousands would have died and there would have been a stampede and more would have died," said an unrepentant Kalyan Singh. "The question before me was: who should I save? I prevented a massacre. The structure (mosque) went (in the process). I have no regrets. The Ram temple has to come up, the structure (mosque) had to go."

Is the political warfare in the name of religion ever going to end? Will the 1992 riots recur or will the sinister politicians shun the tit-for-tat game? When will all of humanity realise that there is no positive outcome of hatred or communal violence, as out of hatred stems more hatred...