Babri Masjid 26 Years Later!

A quarter century after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the Supreme Court has asked L.K. Advani and other senior BJP leaders to face trial. Justice, however, may still be too far away.

- R. Prasannan

None of us who had watched the pulling down of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992 never had any doubts about the complicity of L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi or Uma Bharti in the crime. From atop the Manas Bhavan overlooking the mosque and the disputed plot, we had seen them exhorting and encouraging the kar sevaks.

Now, a quarter century after the crime, the Supreme Court has said that they, too, should face trial. But would it serve any purpose?

I remember the day as yesterday. As I wrote in THE WEEK then, “The view from the terrace of Manas Bhavan on the cool Sunday morning was clear. The mist over the Sarayu had melted away. The 464-year-old shrine stood there in all its decrepit magnificence.”

The Supreme Court had then ordered that there be no construction [of a temple] on the disputed plot. The court’s observer Tej Shankar was told to check whether any construction material was being piled on the disputed plot. Every day, the observer faxed his report to the court: no, no construction material. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders were also telling us: there will be only a symbolic kar seva.

Thus the debate was whether there would be any attempt at construction, in defiance of the court, on the disputed plot. No one was looking at whether anyone was planning a destruction. We had spotted a few men with crowbars the previous day, but tunnel-visioned as we were towards ‘construction’, we missed the plot, literally.