Author: Sandhya Jain
Publication: Vijayvaani.com
Date: October 2, 2010
URL: http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=1439
If there is a clear winner in the vexatious
dispute over the Ram Janmabhoomi, it is Truth (satya), which has triumphed
in the face of formidable obstacles placed by cussed political actors nurturing
communal votebanks, aided and abetted by an army of rapidly secular (read
viciously anti-Hindu) fellow travellers in media, academia, and of course,
the west-centric activists/busybodies.
Thursday's fractured verdict, unsurprising
for a court judging around 20 different issues over a span of six decades,
is laudable for the fact that the three-judge bench exuded unanimity on the
essential issues - that the disputed spot was the birthplace of Sri Rama;
that a temple preceded the mosque removed by mob action on Dec. 6, 1992; and
that Lord Rama would not be dislodged from His abode. From 1528 to 1992 to
2010, it has been a long journey. The delivery of the judgment on virtually
the eve of Diwali is fraught with poignant symbolism.
The judgment has taken the friendless Hindu
community towards closure, even though the verdict divided the land among
the Hindu Mahasabha, Nirmohi Akhara, and Sunni Central Waqf Board. The central
dome where Ram Lalla Virajman is housed has been given to the Hindu Mahasabha.
Sites known as Sita Rasoi and Ram Chabutra
have been given to Nirmohi Akhara, a Panchayati Math of Ramanandi Bairagi
panth, founded by Swami Ramanand at Varanasi in the 14th-15th centuries. The
panth claims direct descent from Swami Ramanuja; its greatest proponent was
Gosain Tulsi Das, who immortalised the Lord in the Ramacharitamanas, written
in the reign of Emperor Akbar. Gosain ji popularized the enactment of Ramlila
in public, and personally participated in the performances. The panth appeared
at Ayodhya sometime after 1734 AD.
There was no way such a contentious case could
be perfectly unanimous. Thus, judges Sudhir Aggarwal and Dharam Veer Sharma
dismissed the title suits filed by the Sunni Waqf Board and Nirmohi Akhara
as time barred, being filed in 1961 for an event which took place in 1949;
this automatically confirmed the title on the Ramjambhoomi petitioners.
Justice D.V. Sharma further ruled that the building constructed by emperor
Babur was built against the tenets of Islam (being a place of dispute) and
did not have the character of the mosque (being without minarets). It was
constructed over a massive Hindu religious structure as proved by the Archaeological
Survey of India; Hindus have been worshipping the place as Janm Sthan (birthplace)
and making pilgrimages there from time immemorial. The murtis were placed
in the middle dome of the disputed structure in the intervening night of 22/23
December 1949.
Justice Aggarwal noted there was no clear
evidence when the mosque was built and by whom, but it existed when Joseph
Tieffenthaler visited Oudh area between 1766 to 1771. Justice S.U. Khan agreed
the mosque was built by Babur, but on the ruins of a temple, and some temple
material was incorporated in the mosque. While Justice Sharma conferred the
entire land on the Ram Janmabhoomi petitioners, judges Aggarwal and Khan distributed
it among the three disputants arguing that Hindu pujas and Muslim namaaz were
offered in the same premises for many years; there was no formal partition
of the land between them; hence they were held to be in joint possession.
The last namaaz offered in the Masjid was on Dec. 16, 1949.
The case is complicated enough to vex the
most acute legal eagle. To my mind, what is most striking about Ayodhya and
recent high profile cases like Jessica Lal murder, Ruchika molestation, Nitish
Katara murder, etc., is that the prolonged delay in the judicial process ultimately
gave justice to the beleaguered litigants. This is because the cover-up /
tampering with evidence and witnesses that could have resulted in miscarriage
of justice if rapid trials were held, could not be sustained in prolonged
litigation and petered out, even as the social and political environment changed.
It is a sobering lesson for those in a hurry.
The greatest vindication at Ayodhya is of
the Archaeological Survey of India, whose experts work diligently to excavate
and preserve the truth of our heritage in the face of extreme nastiness from
arid Lib-Left academicians who grab state funding and western patronage to
denigrate India's civilisation and culture. At Supreme Court direction in
2003, the ASI worked under the glare of a hostile media disinformation campaign,
to unearth the truth that recovered the Ram Janmabhoomi as a Hindu heritage
and validated Hindu civilisational memory.
Special gratitude is owed to late Prof B.R.
Grover, who single-handedly researched the medieval archives in Faizabad and
discovered that Mughal-era revenue records listed the site as Masjid-e-Janmasthan
- a direct reference to Sri Ram. Late Prof Swaraj Gupta assisted Prof B.B.
Lal in his seminal work in Ayodhya, and had the brainwave of bringing a radar
team to scan the surface below the ruins. The finding that there were man-made
structures below prompted the apex court to order excavations; the rest is
history…
The most positive aspect of the judgment is
that a peaceful settlement can be reached without political parties or Parliament.
Both the Hindu Mahasabha and Sunni Wakf Board are aggrieved and plan to move
the Supreme Court. The Muslim community would do well to resist overt and
covert incitement by badly beaten and bruised secular fundamentalists who
could barely conceal their rage in television studios.
Muslims must accept with grace the basic letter
and spirit of the judgment - that the land belongs to Sri Rama. The Sunni
Wakf Board is open to negotiations, which is welcome, as it is difficult to
perceive a situation in which the apex court will overturn this verdict and
order ouster of Ram Lalla Virajman. We could borrow a solution from the old
Arab practice (enshrined in Islamic law) wherein compensation can be offered
to aggrieved parties. This would bring closure to all without aggravating
the sentiments of any community.
- The author is Editor, www.vijayvaani.com
