Hindustan Times
What the Babri incident did to us
The average Muslim is unlikely to vote any one party or candidate but is generally cagey about Hindutva-based politics.
Yet, after a Hindu fundamentalist movement led to the destruction in 1992 of the 16th-century Babri Masjid 20 years ago, many Muslims have frequently articulated a longing for a “truly secular” alternative to the Congress, accusing the party of often tilting to the Hindu right. That option has remained a hard-to-pin-down political mirage, analysts say.
I asked a few political commentators whose views I trust, about what they made of Muslim politics, two decades years on.
The enduring political legacy of the demolition has been that parties began courting Muslims as a political class, often in the name of protection. Besides, the Babri incident also created a political divide between the so-called secular parties and those with a Hindu fundamentalist ideology.
Neither option — Muslims seeking a “true secular” alternative and parties vying to fit the bill — has worked consistently.
Hilal Ahmed, a scholar at Delhi’s The Centre for the Study of Developing Societies who has worked on politics around monuments, such as the Babri Masjid, says if one really wanted to associate social categories with political categories, then caste has been a bigger factor.
Post-Babri, Muslims get more than a fair share of wooing because they are thought to impact polls by voting as a bloc. This is an over-blown myth, analysts say.
Only rarely have Muslims voted as a bloc to keep Hindutva parties out. According to Zoya Hasan of Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, when Muslims see an emerging threat from Hindu nationalists threatening their identity, such as the Babri incident, they may tend to vote tactically. When there is no such threat, they tend to focus on the larger issues, such as education.
Post-Mandal, Dalits, formerly a Congress constituency, had their own party. “In absence of a core Muslim party then, the dominant political perception was where do Muslims go? That is why sometimes Muslims seek an alternative,” said Ahmed.
AR Qureshi of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, who was on the forefront of the Babri struggle, said most parties had disappointed Muslims. “We may find that elusive alternative some day,” he said. That will add another facet to an already complex political game theory.
(22 votes, average: 2.82 out of 5)
Loading ...
indian Reply:
December 9th, 2012 at 5:25 pm
Babri masjid was mosque destructed by hindu terrorists get that staraight,even after exavation its proved..this is old used technique keep idol or stone wherever u want to build temple..automatically people will put some orange powder some cloths and u have the illegal temple ready..BJP targets the majority votebank yet they are not able to win elections ..this shows the incompetency of BJP and hindu terrorists supporting and vot ing it..india is a secular and will be secular
[Reply]
swami Reply:
December 9th, 2012 at 6:42 pm
The old technique is to bury a dead body in a Hindu temple and slaughter cows in the place so the Hindus give up the place as having become impure.
Also according to the court records it is babri building and not babri masjid.
Hindus are not secular. They were always deeply spiritual and will always remain so because as swami vivekananda said religion is the business of Hindus.
Hindus are not tolerant. They believe all religions are true and a person has the freedom to practice the religion he has been put into by God. It is the muslim and christian who are tolerant. They believe only their religion is true and all other religions are satanic and should be destroyed. They behave in a tolerant manner when they do not have the strength to impose their beliefs on you and wait for the time when they would become stronger than you and then impose their religion mercilessly on you.
[Reply]