{"id":351406,"date":"2024-12-06T01:02:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-06T06:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/?p=351406"},"modified":"2024-12-06T02:10:01","modified_gmt":"2024-12-06T07:40:01","slug":"sambhal-are-surveys-masking-subterfuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/sambhal-are-surveys-masking-subterfuge\/","title":{"rendered":"Sambhal: Are surveys masking subterfuge?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Shocking visuals have emerged of the very build-up and subsequent handling of the situation at the Shahi mosque, where a survey team was sent in response to the claim that it was built on a temple site<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u00a0recall that around the time of the Babri Masjid demolition,\u00a0Khushwant\u00a0 Singh\u00a0 had asked\u00a0 BJP\u2019s\u00a0 K.R. Malkani that how many more masjids would the Sangh target and demolish! Khushwant was\u00a0far-sighted and was certain that the Babri Masjid destruction was the start of the Sangh\u2019s agenda to carry forward destruction of many more structures, human and otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Khushwant Singh<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And when I interviewed Prof Irfan Habib, he warned: \u201cSuch a\u00a0 post-factor rationalization of what was done on 6\u00a0 December 1992, would place in\u00a0 jeopardy the fate of\u00a0 numerous\u00a0 historical\u00a0 monuments\u00a0 all over the country, an increasing\u00a0 number of which are being targeted for destruction by the communal right-wing\u00a0 forces.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Prof Irfan Habib<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This Aligarh-based internationally known historian –  the former chairman of Indian Council of Historical Research and also the former Professor of History at the Centre for Advanced Study in History at AMU; author of books on the Mughal rule (prominent amongst them, Agrarian System of Mughal India, An Atlas of Mughal Empire, Prehistory<\/em>)  –  was clear and forthright in his  criticism of the right wing forces  and the destruction of the Babri Masjid that took place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are no ‘left’ or ‘right’ wing historians! All this is a creation of the BJP. If anyone speaks with a scientific outlook he’s called ‘leftist’ by them.\u201d He had gone on to say, \u201cThere wasn’t a Hindu or Muslim reaction to the destruction of the Babri Masjid. The very destruction was an insult to the country and its citizens; an assault on the Indian secular consciousness. As an Indian, I felt insulted \u2026it was a blow to the image of my country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof Habib minced no words in stating that destruction could be repeated. And with that, the  chances of  other  mosques getting targeted cannot be  ruled out. During the course of the interview I had asked him to comment on the Babri Masjid, whether it was built on a temple site or did it exist for centuries on that very site? Did the ASI conduct the excavation independently? Also, why those claims by the right-wing parties that they do possess evidence that the Ram Janambhoomi temple had been originally there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can’t say much about the competence of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct rigorous, scientific and impartial excavations. One must remember that the archaeological finds are subject to a wide range of interpretations – if it is trying to find out whether the Babri Masjid was immediately built upon a temple, then any stratum of lime-mortar bound rubble or medieval baked bricks or glazed pottery below the mosque should be enough to prove that such was not the case. If the search is on anything that could possibly belong to a non-Muslim shrine of any sort of any earlier time, then almost anything could be defined as a temple relic: a pre-13 century carved stone or image or even a Kushana period brick, though such might easily have come from a domestic house. In that case the dispute could be unending; or could simply give the VHP the benefit of doubt and declare that ASI has spoken and decided in its favour.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, in the winter of 2024, I\u2019m writing this column in the backdrop of the communal violence that hit Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh.  The context  is the  centuries old Shahi mosque  of this  town, which  has suddenly come  into  focus  with the right-wing alleging it was built on a temple site and a survey team was sent to the mosque. Disturbing and shocking shots have emerged of the very build-ups and of the very handling of the situation, resulting in deaths and destruction. This has left the minority community just too stunned and in a state of shock and dismay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh blamed the BJP for the violence in Sambhal, alleging the survey team was sent to the mosque by the party to nurture its “politics of hatred”. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav lashed out at the BJP, saying its government and the administration orchestrated the violence “to divert attention from electoral malpractice\u2026A survey team was deliberately sent in the morning to disrupt discussions about the election. The intention was to create chaos so that no debate on election issues could happen,”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UP Congress chief Ajay Rai said the incidents of violence were increasing day by day in the state under the Yogi Adityanath government.”When the Chief Minister of the state himself gives statements like ‘batenge toh katenge<\/em>,’ then how can there be an atmosphere of peace in the state? This is a completely planned incident.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact is that today, communal unleashes and blatant targeted attacks have crossed all limits. Instead of trying to find a way out from this deadly mess, the political rulers of the day have been coming up with hate-dripping speeches!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hate speeches of the political rulers of the day are only accelerating. In fact, a couple of months ago, mid-August 2024, the Human Rights Watch had brought out a detailed report focusing on this. To quote, \u201cHuman Rights Watch analysed all 173 campaign speeches by PM Modi after the election code of conduct took effect on March 16. The code forbids appealing to \u201ccommunal feelings for securing votes.\u201d In at least 110 speeches, Modi made Islamophobic remarks apparently intended to undermine the political opposition, which he said only promoted Muslim rights, and to foster fear among the majority Hindu community through disinformation\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report gives not just details to those provocative hate speeches but also mentions the particular place and the date when those speeches were made. It also highlights this factor: \u201cModi  regularly raised  fears among  Hindus  through false claims that their  faith and their  places of  worship, their  wealth,  their  land, and the safety of  girls and women in their community would be under threat from Muslims if  the  opposition parties came to power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As  I mentioned, this report  was released  mid-August, and  since then the hate speeches of the  political  rulers have  only  accelerated.  Several of those speeches were dripping with communal taunts and provocations and slants. Yet no forum or commission is halting them, leaving one completely and thoroughly disillusioned with the system; on how it works and functions!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shocking visuals have emerged of the very build-up and subsequent handling of the situation at the Shahi mosque, where a survey team was sent in response to the claim that it was built on a temple site. I\u00a0recall that around the time of the Babri Masjid demolition,\u00a0Khushwant\u00a0 Singh\u00a0 had asked\u00a0 BJP\u2019s\u00a0 K.R. Malkani that how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351409,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36],"tags":[18317,17127,18927,18956],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351406"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351406"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":351415,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351406\/revisions\/351415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/351409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}