‘The government of the day has openly showed its allegiance to the culprits of the demolition which the highest court of the land regards as a criminal act’
Shaheen Nazar | Clarion India
NEW DELHI — All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat president Navaid Hamid has questioned the propriety of Home Minister Amit Shah meeting Lal Krishna Advani, one of 32 accused in the criminal conspiracy to demolish Babri Masjid in 1992.
The meeting took place at Advani’s residence in New Delhi on July 22, just two days ahead of his appearance before a special CBI court set up to try the conspirators.
India Today, quoting sources, reported that Amit Shah and BJP leader Bhupendra Yadav met Advani and they discussed the statement the veteran politician was expected to deliver before the CBI court. Advani’s statement in the case has been pending for the past 28 years.
“It is an irony that the Home Minister of the country goes to one of the accused with a battery of lawyers to take briefs and to brief the lawyers of the accused for the upcoming deposition in the court,” said Hamid in an interview with Clarion India. By doing so, Hamid charged, the government of the day gave a “loud and clear message to all where it matters.”
Mushawarat is an important body of Muslims in India, being a federation of various Muslim organisations in the country. Referring to the Supreme Court judgement in the Babri Masjid title suit case last November, Hamid said that while handing over the disputed site to Hindus, the apex court noted that the act of mosque demolition in 1992 was “illegal” and “unconstitutional”. The court also described the placement of Ram idol in the mosque in 1948 as mala fide.
Hamid criticised Advani for his refusal to admit his role in the demolition. In his deposition before the court on July 24, Advani denied his involvement in the court and claimed that he had been falsely implicated and the case was politically motivated. Other accused, senior BJP leaders Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti, have also taken similar stand in the court.
“I fail to understand why all these culprits who have been at the forefront of the mosque demolition in the name of Maryada Purshottam Ram, who no doubt is ‘Imamul Hind’, are shy and scared of admitting their role in the unfortunate history of Ayodhya of 1992,” Hamid said, adding: “It is bemusing that the government of the day has openly showed its allegiance to the culprits of the demolition which the highest court of the land regards as a criminal act.
Asked to comment on the upcoming event in Ayodhya where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will oversee the foundation-laying ceremony for a grand Ram temple on August 5, the Mushawarat president said, “After the Supreme Court changed the title of Babri Masjid, I don’t care who attends the Ayodhya event and what happens there. It’s resurgence of Hindutva parties. What the institution of Shankaracharya did with Buddhism is being repeated now. I see the development in the larger context of the politics of decimation in India. It saw the destruction of ancient Buddhist religious icons, forcing the followers of Buddhism out of India.”
Hamid was of the view that the Supreme Court judgement changing the title suit of Babri Masjid had opened the Pandora’s Box for hate politics in the country. He said the bogey of pseudo-nationalists must be countered by one and all.
