The voluminous report of the Liberhan Commission has neither relevance nor weightage today on the Ayodhya issue. The Commission was set up as a political reaction by an inept central government to mollify the clamouring crowd of Hindu-bashing secularists after the demolition of the structure that went around in the name of the foreign invader Babar. Coming 17 years after it was set up, the report at best may be an interesting source material. Its only claim to fame seems to be that it is the longest of commissions.
But the Congress seems to be keen on flogging the dead political horse. Its spokesman Digvijay Singh jumped the gun and blamed the BJP and RSS leaders for the demolition even before the Commission’s findings had been made known and some even demanded arrests. It may do well to remember that the criminal case on this issue and the dispute over the ownership of the land where the structure was situated are still pending in courts.
December 6, 1992, was a day when Hindus asserted their collective will, erasing from our soil at least one symbol of humiliation meted out to us by foreign marauders. There are many more that need to fall. To millions of Hindus it was a proud day to be written in golden letters. To fix the responsibility for this on a few individuals, because their faces are familiar, and organisations because they are politically uncomfortable for the establishment is a travesty of justice. It is not clear what Liberhan was looking for and if he got what was wanted of him. His Commission got 48 extensions from five governments.
The Ayodhya demolition is being portrayed by the media as a huge crime. This is not the first place of worship to be demolished in this country. And Ayodhya is one of the holiest Hindu sites. Hence the cry that the demolished structure was a mosque is laughable. Ayodhya is a place of pilgrimage to Hindus and to no other community. On the other hand, thousands of Hindu temples have been and continue to be demolished in several parts of the country, with Kashmir leading the list. The Hindu temples demolished in India’s neighbourhood—Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Sri Lanka—do not even merit a mention in the media! When the BJP government demolished temples in Gujarat for roads, the media did not raise a hue and cry nor did the centre rush to save the rights of the people to worship. Why do governments and media act and react only against the Hindus?
The BJP paid a huge political price for December 6, 1992. Four of its legitimate governments were dismissed. The RSS too was illegally punished with a ban, which after all did not stand the scrutiny of law. In the name of ‘revenge’ the Hindus have suffered hundreds of bomb blasts and casualties in which thousands died. None of these have been probed and perpetrators punished. Every terrorist caught has parroted December 6 and post-Godhra events as justifications for bombing trains, killing the innocents and maiming the unsuspecting.
If anything, the Liberhan Commission should serve as a model for future as to how a commission of enquiry should not be. The crores spent on it were public money, which could have been better utilised. But then we live in a milieu where “commissions are made to cool the heat,” as Lalu Prasad Yadav put. He should know because he appointed the one on Godhra to tailor make a case for a fresh round of Modi and Hindu-bashing.
Ayodhya is not an issue. It is a matter of faith for the Hindu. The matter will continue to stir political discourses until a magnificent temple is built on the birthplace of Bhagwan Ram, which is the holiest of holy sites for Hindus.
