Statement by National Alliance of People’s Movements
The National Alliance of People’s Movements condemns the
‘unanimous’ verdict by the 5-judge Bench of the Supreme Court in
the Ayodhya matter. The judgement, instead of holding accountable before law
all those who criminally demolished the 450 year old Babri Masjid has rewarded
the violators. The judgement legitimizes majoritarianism and mobocracy and
strikes at the very secular fabric of our Constitution. Full of contradictions,
the verdict only pays sermons to the values of equality and fraternity, but
ends up violating these very principles in its relief.
The judgement also does not pass the test of logic. Despite
the Court stating at the outset of the hearing that the judgement in the matter
of title dispute would be pronounced based on facts and not faith, the final
judgement has ended up privileging faith in a disproportionate way and opening
a dangerous flood gate. On the one hand, the Court upheld that a masjid stood
at the ‘disputed site’, that there was no evidence of a temple below the mosque
(the Court accepted presence of a non-muslim structure), that idols were
unlawfully sneaked into the mosque in 1949 and that the mosque itself was
unlawfully demolished in 1992. However, on the other hand, while issuing
directions, the Court ordered that a temple be constructed at the very site of
demolition of the mosque, which not only defies logic but is also a gross abuse
of the due principles of law and natural justice. To camouflage this, the Court
directs that 5 acres land be given for ‘rehabilitation of the mosque’. There is
no clarity as to the legal and constitutional basis for arriving at such a
decision !
The invocation of Article 142 of the Constitution in this
context would infact give rise to many new challenges in the future. This was a
clear title suit where the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Wakf Board was agitating
for its legal rights and the question was not about ‘finding alternative land for
the mosque’. The judgement conveys an impression to muslims that despite being
equal citizens of the country, their rights are not equal before the law. This
is an extremely worrying message from the highest court in today’s times when
muslims are already being targeted and marginalized in many ways. It is as if
the Court is granting them a favour by offering the land. Further, granting the
land (beneath the mosque) as a legal right to the same party which demolished
the mosque is a historical insult to the values and principles enshrined in the
Constitution.
Another unprecedented and unconstitutional aspect of the
judgement is addressing the two sides as ‘Hindu’ and ‘Muslim’ which is clearly
in violation to the secular character of the state and can prove quite
dangerous. There were no parties with these names before the Court. The Uttar
Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board was a petitioner representing that specific
disputed land (and not the entire Muslim community of the country). Nor is ‘Ram
Lalla Virajman’ (on behalf of Vishwa Hindu Parishad) a representative body of
all Hindus.
Despite the verdict mandating that the central and state
government must strictly implement the Places of Worship (Special Provisions)
Act, 1991 which stipulates maintenance of status quo on the character of
disputed sites as it existed in 1947, the judgement sets in motion a very
dangerous precedent of allowing majoritarian faith over facts. Based on this,
any community / sect can use their faith to contest the ownership of any
structure and forcibly take over and demolish it by vicious campaigning and support
from highest powers of state machinery. And it is no exaggeration to state that
in the delicate circumstances that our nation is in today, the majoritarian
political and religious forces would fully abuse such a judicial precedent and
indulge in persecution of minorities.
Be this as it may, the ‘Ayodhya matter’ itself is far from
resolved and accountability is yet to be fixed on those who indulged in the
criminal act of demolition. There are many unanswered questions. What happened
of the Liberhan Commission’s Report? Why has the CBI been dragging its feet
even 27 years after the demolition ? Why haven’t the perpetrators of the crime
been prosecuted and brought to justice ? Within days of the verdict, we also
observe that the All India Hindu Mahasabha has now written to the Prime
Minister and Home Minister to withdraw all cases against the karsevaks
responsible for the Babri demolition !
It is also a harsh reality that the political leaders, party
and their violent affiliates who were behind the ‘Rath Yatra’ and demolition of
the masjid in 1992 and the Gujarat pogrom of 2002, are in power in the centre
and the state, to who the Apex Court’s verdict hands over the ‘disputed land’
on a platter despite admitting that they were guilty of criminal acts. Ironically,
these communal elements are now preaching to others that the ‘bitter past must
be left behind’ in the interest of a ’new
If the Apex Court was of the view that such a judgement was
the ‘need of the hour to let peace prevail and move ahead’, the judgement
should have said so, in so many words that it was depriving one party of their
rightful ownership of the disputed site for pragmatic reasons, placing the
imposed ‘compromise’ on record and acknowledging the sacrifice expected of the
Muslim community. Without such an express acknowledgement, it would be very unjust
to call this decision, justice.
We demand that the Supreme Court reviews this faulty
judgement within the framework of the Constitution and decides it again on the
basis of fact, law and logic and not on the basis of ‘faith’. This is important
since this is not just the case of one ‘disputed religious site’, but is
necessary to ensure that hate-mongering elements do not get an opportunity to
carry forward their divisive agendas and violate the Constitution. We also
demand that the state stop registration of false cases and persecution of anybody
who critiques this judgement on the basis of law and logic. All those
responsible for the criminal act of demolition must be brought to book at least
now.
We hope that in this challenging climate of struggle for
justice, the common citizens of the country and in particular, people belonging
to both Hindu and Muslim faiths maintain peace. Democracy-loving citizens and
groups need to be ever vigilant to ensure that in the garb of ‘temple
construction’, there is no further hate and bloodbath. At a time when the very
right of citizens to question, reason and expression are trampled upon and all
dissent is termed as anti –national, we must be on our toes to defend our
democracy.
NAPM deeply appreciates the courage and peace-loving nature
of the common masses, in particular the Muslim community and resolves to stand
by them in these trying times. NAPM commits itself to fight alongside those who
are wronged and continue its collective struggle for a just society based on
peace, equality, reason, freedom, liberty and fraternity.
Let to organize to save our country from right-wing
majoritarianism and strive to ensure that the values of the Constitution
as well as the aspirations of Gandhi, Ambedkar, Maulala Azad, Bhagat Singh,
Periyar, Shubash, Phule, Savitribai, and others are kept alive.
Medha Patkar, Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) and National
Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM);
Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey, Shankar Singh, Mazdoor Kisan
Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), National Campaign for People’s Right to Information,
NAPM;
Dr. Binayak Sen, Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties
(PUCL); Gautam Bandopadhyay, Nadi Ghati Morcha; Kaladas
Dahariya, RELAA, NAPM Chhattisgarh;
Prafulla Samantara, Lok Shakti Abhiyan; Lingraj
Azad, Samajwadi Jan Parishad & Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti, Manorama,
Ant-Posco Movement, NAPM Odisha;
Kavita Srivastava, People’s
Sandeep Pandey, NAPM, Richa Singh, Sangatin Kisaan
Mazdoor Sangathan; Arundhati Dhuru, Manesh Gupta, Rajeev Yadav, Suresh
Rathaur, Mahendra, NAPM, Uttar Pradesh;
Sister Celia, Domestic Workers
Gabriele Dietrich, Penn Urimay Iyakkam, Madurai; Geetha
Ramakrishnan, Unorganised Sector Workers Federation; Arul Doss, NAPM
Tamilnadu;
Dr. Sunilam, Adv. Aradhna Bhargava, Kisan Sangharsh
Samiti; Rajkumar Sinha, Chutka Parmaanu Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti,NAPM,
Madhya Pradesh;
Vilayodi Venugopal, CR Neelakandan, Prof. Kusumam Joseph,
Sharath Cheloor, NAPM, Kerala;
Dayamani Barla, Aadivasi-Moolnivasi Astivtva Raksha
Samiti, Basant Hetamsaria, Ashok Verma, Aloka Kujur, NAPM Jharkhand;
Anand Mazgaonkar, Swati Desai, Krishnakant, Parth, Nita
Mahadev, Mudita, Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti, Lok Samiti, NAPM Gujarat;
Vimal Bhai,Matu Jan sangathan; Jabar Singh, NAPM,
Uttarakhand;
Suniti SR, Suhas Kolhekar, Prasad Bagwe, NAPM,
Anjali Bharadwaj, National Campaign for People’s Right
to Information (NCPRI), NAPM;
Faisal Khan, Khudai Khidmatgar, J
Kamayani Swami, Ashish Ranjan, Jan Jagran Shakti
Sangathan; Mahendra Yadav,KosiNavnirman Manch; Sister Dorothy,
Ujjawal Chaubey, NAPM Bihar;
Bhupender Singh Rawat, Jan Sangharsh Vahini; Sunita
Rani, Domestic Workers Union;Nanhu Prasad, Nirman Mazdoor
Union; Rajendra Ravi, Madhuresh Kumar, Himshi Singh, Uma, Aryaman, NAPM,
Delhi
Jeevan Kumar & Syed Bilal (Human Rights Forum), P.
Shankar (Dalit Bahujan Front), Vissa Kiran Kumar & Kondal (Rythu
Swarajya Vedika), Sajaya K (Caring Citizens Collective), Ravi
Kanneganti (Rythu JAC), Ashalatha (MAKAAM), Krishna (Telangana
Vidyavantula Vedika-TVV), M. Venkatayya (Telangana Vyavasaya
Vruttidarula Union-TVVU), Jangaiah & SQ Masood (RTI
Activists), Meera Sanghamitra, Rajesh Serupally, NAPM Telangana
P. Chennaiah, Andhra Pradesh Vyavasaya Vruthidarula
United Forum for RTI and NAPM, Chakri (Samalochana), Balu
Gadi (RSV), Bapji Juvvala, - NAPM Andhra Pradesh;