PFI Demonstrates on Babri Masjid Issue, Demands Reconstruction at Same Site

Bhopal, December 06 (Pervez Bari): Popular Front of India, (PFI), staged a “dharna” (sit-in) at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Monday demanding reconstruction of Babri Masjid on its actual site. The demonstration was led by K. M. Shareef, the General Secretary PFI. Representatives of the different political and social organizations addressed hundreds of demonstrators on the occasion.

According to a Press release of PFI, Shareef addressing assemblage at the “dharna” site said that the PFI has resolved to observe Babri Masjid Reconstruction Campaign from 6th December 2010 to 30th January 2011 throughout the country as an awareness drive against the rising phenomenon of terrorism. He said that people used to ask Muslims to forget the issue but it was hardly possible for them to ignore such a callous injustice of independent India. The day when Babri Masjid was demolished there was no Government at all, at least in Ayodhya, and the rule of law hardly existed there, he pointed out. Shareef felt sorry that the report of Liberhan Commission was accepted without any ATR and demanded that all those who were found responsible for demolition of Babri Masjid by the Commission should be taken to task. He went on to say that the country is waiting for the correction of the faith-laden judgment of the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court by the Supreme Court.

At the outset Hafiz Asrar, a representative of All India Imam Council, asserted that a mosque has a sanctified status in Islam and had been that Babri Masjid were build on an encroached land then Muslims themselves would have pulled it down long back. Hafiz Manzoor, the National Secretary of Social Democratic Party of India, (SDPI), said that 6th December has become one of the darkest days of secular India and, unfortunately, the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court had, instead of strengthening the secular fabric of the country, powered sectarian conflict in the county by endorsing belief and faith of some people against the constitutional authority and rule of law.

Abdul Rashid Agwan, State convener of the SDPI, stated that Ramjanma Bhoomi movement is not a religious movement but a political one and targets power politics in the country. He quoted extensively from the High Court judgment and argued that the judicial system has failed to deliver justice to the aggrieved party and bring those to the book who repeatedly broke status quo and caused contempt to the system. Adv. Sajid Siddiqui, the vice president of SDPI, lamented the rise of political anarchy in the country and quoted former President of India late Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma who had said that the demolition of Babri Masjid was nothing but a sheer “vandalism” act. Adv. Siddiqui referred how the blame of partition of India and events of terrorism had been labeled against Muslims. However, the world has gradually come to know that Hindutva forces are really responsible for such things. He demanded that the Babri Masjid should be erected on its historic site so that this kind of evil tendencies might be defeated.
Mohammed Shadab from Muzaffar Nagar was of the opinion that the assault on Babri Masjid was not on a mosque but on the democratic and secular foundations of the country and demanded that the recommendations of Liberhan Commission should be accepted and action should be taken against the culprits. The representative of Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat Dr. Anwar-ul-Islam explained the history of Babri Mosque and derived that Ram temple movement was nothing but an attempt to assault the harmony among various communities. He alleged that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the erstwhile Prime Minister, and Govind Vallabh Pant, the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, were responsible for creating a chronic cancer of Hindu-Muslim conflict in the form of the issue. He moaned that the subsequent Congress governments in the state carried on the same policy Tasleem Rehmani, president of Muslim Political Council, said the anniversary of the demolition of Babri Masjid use to sadden a large number of Muslims and the community succeeded in achieving nothing but a sordid legacy of Babri Masjid. He correlated different events related to the issue and mentioned that the conspiracy was well planned and hatched long back, even before the partition in 1946 on the eve of independence. Rahmani was of the opinion that a Brahmincal and secular orders are operating in the country parallel to each other for sustaining a hegemonic rule in the country and the demolition of Babri mosque was an instrument in this regard.
The president of Qaumi Party of India Hasnain appealed that nothing could be achieved without sacrifice and the Muslims should remain prepared for it. He expressed that administration is not allowing Muslims to peacefully express their grief and arrested those youths who simply paste posters on the eve of 6th December. Maulana Abdul Wahab Khilji, the president of Muslim Islahi Tahreek, reminded that Babri Masjid controversy was created to weaken the secular fabric of the country and appealed that Muslims should have faith on Islam and themselves and work according to the tenets of Islam in the wake of testing time.The demonstration was also addressed by Nawabuddeen Nakshbandi, Imam of Safdurjang Masjid, who said that all accepted rights have been gradually denied to Muslims and the community is being cornered to remain content with whatever is given. However, Muslims should rise up to the time and carve out a respectable position in the country by concerted efforts. (pervezbari@eth.net)