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24th anniversary of Babri Masjid’s martyrdom today

The 24th anniversary of 16th century Babri Mosque’s martyrdom (demolition)  in the city of Ayodhya in Utter Pradesh, India, is being observed today.    

On December 6, 1992, a large crowd of Hindu Kar Sevaks (volunteers) of RSS and its affiliates organised a rally involving 150,000 VHP and BJP members, who  martyred (demolished) the 16th-century Babri Mosque in the city of Ayodhya.

Since the martyrdom of the historic mosque, 24 long years have passed and the Muslims of India are still awaiting for justice.

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On 6 December 1992, the RSS and its affiliates organised a rally involving 150,000 VHP and BJP kar sevaks at the site of the mosque. The ceremonies included speeches by BJP leaders such as Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti. During the first few hours of the rally, the crowd grew gradually more restless, and began raising militant slogans.

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The mob with the help and patronage of the government functionaries stormed the mosque. The mob set upon the building with axes, hammers, and grappling hooks, and within a few hours, the entire mosque was leveled.  The Hindus also destroyed numerous other mosques within the town.

A 2009 report, authored by Justice Manmohan Singh Liberhan, found 68 people to be responsible for the demolition of the Masjid, mostly leaders from the BJP. Among those named were Vajpayee, Advani, Joshi and Vijay Raje Scindia. Kalyan Singh, who was then the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, also faced severe criticism in the report. Liberhan wrote that he posted bureaucrats and police officers to Ayodhya, whose record indicated that they would stay silent during the mosque’s martyrdom.

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Anju Gupta, a police officer who had been in charge of Advani’s security on that day, stated that Advani and Joshi made speeches that contributed to provoking the behaviour of the mob.

The day the entire Indian Muslim community, the many helpless, impoverished and the few well to do Muslims, watched helplessly and in abject fear as the ancient Babri Masjid in Ayodhya was demolished, brick by brick by the extremist Hindus, egged on by their nationally known leaders.

At the same time throughout the wide expanse of India from Assam to Gujarat and from Kashmir to Kerala, ordinary Muslims were publicly humiliated in countless anti-Muslim riots. That day the brutal enemies of Indian Muslims openly taunted them with provocative slogans.

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In countless cities in the nation the houses, shops, schools, businesses of Muslims were pillaged and burnt down to ground. Any Muslims in obvious Muslim dresses (tahmad, topi, beard, burqa etc) were waylaid and lynched publicly. For several weeks the lives of Muslims were cheap.

But despite the passage of 24 long years, those responsible for the martyrdom of the historic mosque were still at large and no one has so far been punished despite the fact many commissions have held the BJP high ups responsible for the demolition.