The much anticipated, decades-old Ayodhya verdict is finally here with five Supreme Court Judges pronouncing their judgement yesterday.
It seems like it happened only yesterday but 27 years have been passed since the Babri masjid was demolished by Hindu right-wing organizations and now the 2.77 acres – the most disputed land in Indian history, will have a temple constructed while the Muslims were given five acres of land somewhere in Ayodhya, HT reports.
Well, is this justice? Was justice given to Muslims after 27 years long wait since the Mosque was illegally demolished asks Muslim women’s forum president, writer Syeda Hameed.
Is yes, she has a simple question to put forth before the honourable Judges: If breaking the Masjid was illegal, why has the 2.77 acres been gifted to the very elements who were party to this?The relief that has been offered to the aggrieved party does not suggest that there was any illegality in the demolition of the masjid.
The Ayodhya title suit case originally had two Hindu parties (to the case): the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla Virajman. But later, a third entity entered the case – the Ram Janambhoomi Nyas, which has become the dominant player in the case. Will it now be dominant party of the trust and gain control of the huge sums that have been gathered for this cause from India and around the world?
Few other questions that follow are the ASI’s main report stated no temple was found beneath the masjid, a report signed by all those who framed it, had an unsigned epilogue at the end which stated that the structure beneath did not look Islamic.
Did the top court rely on this unsigned epilogue rather than on the signed report?
What’s worrisome is that does this verdict set a precedent? Since we have an ancient history where entire cities have been built on the ruins of other cities what about thousands of religious places that are on the demolition list? Will this continue?
To quote Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, “Jo hona ttha woh ho chuka” (Whatever was supposed to happen, has happened). For Muslims, the question I ask myself in the words of Allama Iqbal is: “What should we do now? What should we not do?”
The verdict has possibly raised uncertainty among the Muslim community who now face threat from the majority Hindu community.
“Since you have in one voice given the judgment that the demolition and placement of idols was illegal then don’t give us substitutes like pieces of land; we reject such offers. In the spirit of your judgment, just give us one assurance that this will never happen again,” the writers appeal.