Abhishek
Shukla, MBA (IT) 2010, IIIT Allahabad
The Babri masjid was build in 1528 at Ayodhya
by Mir Baqi, the governor of Ayodhya
at the time. He built it adjacent to the Ram chabutra,
which is held sacred by the Hindus. This was clear deviation from the Islamic
principle. According to Islam principle, the places of worship of two religions
should be built at a considerable distance from each other. In 1949, some hindus placed three idols inside
the Babri mosque, unable to manage the crisis this
created, the Muslims reacted; their failure to adopt the prophetic principle in
this regard started an unending controversy between two communities.
In 1991, during the
prime ministership of Narashimha
Rao, the Indian Parliament passed a legislation
called the Places of Worship Act 1991. According to this Act the government of
India was bound to maintain the status quo of all places of worship on the
Indian soil as it stood in 1947. But there was an exception
it; that of the Babri masjid
of Ayodhya. The Act maintained that the Babri masjid issue was in court,
so the government would wait and it would be its duty to implement the verdict
of the court when it was given.
The Act was a most
reasonable one and Muslims should have accepted it as such. But they rejected
it outright and resorted to street demonstrations. The demolition of the Babri masjid on December 6, 1992,
was nothing but the culmination of this negative course of action adopted by
the Muslims. At the time said by an Islamic writer Maulana
Wahiduddin Khan said:" Babri
Masjid ko
Hinduon ne toda aur Musalmano ne usko tudwaya." (The Hindus
demolished the Babri masjid
but Muslims provoked them to do so.)
Now, after the judicial
verdict on September 30, 2010, a general view prevails in the Muslim community
that this verdict is contrary to their hopes and they would challenge it in the
Supreme Court. But this is not going to solve the problem. It is an emotional
reaction to the verdict and not a well-considered response.
A probable solution to this problem is to put a full stop to this issue. If we put a comma, then there will be no end to it. We have lost 60 years by putting comma after comma and now this is last chance to bring closure to the issue so that the relationships between the Hindus and the Muslims may be normalized. Indian Muslims must use the opportunity to bring closure to a long-standing dispute.