Monday 20 September 2010

Ek Dhakka aur Do…

For most people of my generation, and before, these were few words that stayed with us for months and years. Ek Dhakka aur do (Give one more push) … Ek Dhakka Aur do… For those who missed having “matured” brains during the period of 1992 – this was the battle cry of all the fanatics on a fateful day.

6th of December, 1992… what a day!

More than 150,000 men gathered in and around the Mosque of Babur (popularly known as Babri Masjid, the disputed area), Thousands of Police Personnel stationed in the area, with layers of security cordon in place around the disputed area. BJP/VHP leaders like Advani, Murali Manohar Joshi, Ashok Singhal, Uma Bharti et al were seen addressing the crowd. Kar Sevaks chanted “Jai Shri Ram”. Both National and International Media captured the madness in their cameras at frantic speed. Blockades were put up on all entry points to this part of city. There was something special about the whole setting that day. There was something building up that day. One got a feeling that something dramatic was waiting to happen. And so it shockingly did…

One moment everything was going fine – the other… all hell broke loose. Some people ran towards the “disputed Structure” and tried to break police cordon. Stones started being thrown around from all direction towards police cordons. Police who had formed layers of security around the structure got surrounded by a few thousands of people. With Stones being pelted at them – the Police had to resort to Lathi-charge (Remember – Firing was not an option Policemen could exercise, as was done in 1990 on the orders of Mulayam Singh Yadav – the CM then). In trying to safeguard themselves and to puch back the people, police had to break the cordon around the Structure, which left the structure exposed for infiltration. As if by plan – within a few minutes Kar Sevaks were seen climbing the structure. First a few and then a few hundred of them managed to climb atop the structure. It was clear from then on that these hooligans will get to their final objective – whatever that was. As it is, with favorable State Government and a “restrained” police force – their job was not all that difficult. These people had come fully prepared. From the instruments that were seen being used (as seen in visuals) it started to become pretty apparent that they did not gather there for
“peaceful” purposes, as the State Government had assured the Allahabad High Court (Note: The Honorable Bench of Allahabad High Court had earlier raised questions about the nature and purpose of such a gathering allowed by the State Government and the Kalyan Singh’s BJP Government had given “written” assurance that they would not allow any unlawful activity there and that the sanctity of the Babri Masjid would be preserved).

Ek Dhakka aur do… was the chant around the Mosque. Piece by piece, rock by rock, stone by stone… the 15th century structure was stripped off its elegance, its importance and most of all – its existence. Ek dhakka aur do… Ek Dhakka aur do… Jai Shri Ram… Jai Shri Ram... Imagine the atmosphere. A few hundred people on top of the tomb, many more thousands around the structure...Police personnel standing helplessly with frustration writ large over their faces. Journalists (of whatever were left on the scene) from around the world watching the same but without their cameras (all the cameras were broken by Kar Sevaks or by Police Force). Add to that the echo of Jai Shri Ram - Jai Shri Ram… With Political and Religious Masters encouraging this bunch of lunatics, the stage was set for the grand finale to something that started way back in 1885 – when the first petition was entered by Raghubar Das in Faizabad Session court…Perfect.

What started as a “promise” of peaceful gathering to perform Religious ceremonies, ended up with a barren land of Mosque Debris by 5:45 PM on that fateful day - 6th Dec 1992.

Indeed, if Ram was alive, he would have died that day at 5:45PM. A king who cared for opinion of even a Washer-man (Dhobi) to go to the length of asking his wife to leave the palace so that sanctity of a King and his kingdom is maintained in the eyes of his people. Imagine him witnessing such a dastardly act carried on in his name. Have always wondered how he would have reacted to such a situation. I have a strong feeling he would have asked Mother Earth to take him in, much before Sita tried that trick. C’mon, he would not be considered a “God” if he tolerated such insouciance of one sect of people (supposedly his supporters) towards other sect of society. But his followers I guess care two hoots about him. It’s “his name” which was of use to them and they used it to great affect. Obviously, they also wanted to avenge something that was done 500 years ago by Babur (or his General, in-charge of Chittodgad, Mir Baqi). 

For those of us “alive” in that era, it felt like a stunning event with no parallel. I remember I was watching the news on TV and had to live through the day looking at images of the grand structure being brought down.  Oh, I think some part of me died that day.   I don’t think I will ever forget the laughing faces of Ms Uma Bharti, Mr Murali Manohar Joshi, Mr. LK Advani, Mr. Ashok Singhal etc. They and their stooges systematically tore away the sensitive fabric of this nation. And they celebrated that. They distributed sweets. Many Indians also cried that day – and not all of them were Muslims. One could see why Muslims felt bad. No one could fault them for being angry that day… or even today. But over the years I have met quite a few Indians who are Hindus/Christians/Sikhs who could not, and did not, eat that day. We could not understand why it had to come to this. What led to our own brethrens to go to such lengths of crude display of power? I never thought we could be so inhuman. We were a peaceful nation with “tolerance” as our strength. Just because we wanted to take revenge on something that happened 500 years ago – we went all the way to use deceit and treachery as tools to achieve the objectives? And we call ourselves civilized? I somehow have never been at peace with this face of our society…Never. I was always made to believe we were a “better” country than that. Tolerance, for me, is not a form of weakness. It is the basis of secularism that we imbibed in our constitution to coexist as one nation. “Secularism” as a concept itself is now being laughed at by some cynics – it however, to my mind, is still the most important component of our constitutional fabric. You remove that and you will find many Bosnias and Croatias formed out of this country.

Am not sure what these political and religious leaders are made of really? They do what they think is right without a care for people they lead or direct. They think public will not read through their treachery and deceiving tactics, sometimes bordering on silliness. One funny incident in particular has always remained with me though – a classic demonstration of their double standards. Remember the destruction of Bamayan Buddha statues by Taiban in Afghanistan? These (the Leaders of Ram Janm Bhoomi Movement) were the same men in “power” (with Vajpayee being PM). Taliban bombarded, bulldozed and clinically destroyed Buddha Statues in Bamayan (Afghanistan) in 2001 and I was shocked out of my wits to see the same people (LK Advani, Murali Manohar Joshi – in particular – and their ilk) criticizing Taliban’s act as one of the most gruesome act in the history! Wow. They went on to ask for removal of Taliban for destroying the cultural and religious ethos and framework of Afghanistan. I fell over laughing when I heard that in 2001! I could not just believe what I was hearing. Look at these men. What do they think we are? Bloody fools? It’s a typical “American” style of thinking – “What I do is right but you are wrong to do the same”! Well, Taliban felt their religion allowed such destruction of such deities and they were within their rights to do it. Why should we expect anything else from a bunch of religious crooks - non-elected ones at that? What happened in our country was shamelessly planned and enacted by “elected” Reps – why should we be surprised by what Taliban did then? What Jokers really.

We in this country have a misconceived notion about what being true citizens is. We use issue of national feelings for convenience. If you did manage to interact with people who were deeply involved in Ram Mandir Movement then – you would have heard a very common rationale of what ever they did… “It is not a matter of nation – it is a matter of our Dharma and Dharma… is much bigger, and important, than a Nation”. Or something on similar lines perhaps. Now once you have that kind of mindset – it is not difficult to understand, for example, what leads to Muslim youth joining terrorist forces like Taliban, LeT, Al-Qaeda etc. They are as human as we are… but they are devoted only to their religion, which is important, not the nation they belong to. That is why Al-Qaeda type of groups has Muslims from all over the world. Just to take this point further – what is so wrong then when Mr P Chidambaram (Home Minister) calls these bunch of Hindu fanatics and their friends (in current times) as “Saffron” Terrorists? After all we do not hesitate in naming groups like Al-Qaeda, LeT etc as “Islamic” Terrorists? Some logic that. Some of Hindu groups have been involved in Bombings, Riots, looting, killing of citizens in terrorist kind of bombings. It’s a fact – or were you sleeping when this was found out? In fact Saffron Terrorists is a toned down version for me – the name should ideally be “Hindu” Terrorists to do their ilk some justice.

Coming back to the topic, there is a critical Judgment pending on 24th Sep 2010 by Lucknow Bench, of Allahabad High Court, on the issue of ownership of disputed land and on whether there was Masjid built over a Mandir or not. It took 17 years for Liberhan Commission (set up to probe Babri Masjid demolition) to come up with a report. This report is yet to be made public and no one knows if anyone is held “responsible” in that report. You see, the problem with such delayed judgments/reports is that most of the people who were directly involved in Ek Dhakka aur do… movement (discreetly or otherwise) have by now become big Leaders of their respective organizations/parties. No Government would touch them willingly without facing reprisals from their supporters – leading to another round of unrest in the country. What we perhaps will witness is more debates, more discussions (oh we Indians love that)...and perhaps a riot here and there (which means a few more dead). And lo behold – Commonwealth games will start and any judgment on the Babri Masjid will get overshadowed, irrespective of whether the games are held successfully or not. Liberhan Commision report, whenever it is made public, will blame a few and if it really includes people who have really done it (or helped cause the final outcome) – do we really think it will be acted upon? Really, the Advanis’, Joshis’, Singhals’, Uma Bharti, Kalyan Singh etc have anyways grown pretty old in the last 17 years and are currently irrelevant in the political spectrum. They have reaped the profits of that one day of hara-kiri. I only hope history remembers them “appropriately” and judges them on the facts and not perceptions.

But whatever is the judgment, and/or whatever is held within the secret report that Justice Liberhan submitted, I urge all of you to give the event a thought – for a few minutes on 24th Sep 2010 – a landmark day. What has one gained from the whole movement and with that one day of madness? More hatred… more divisive society and a lot of near and dear ones lost in riots, arson, bomb blasts, firing etc. Yes, that is what we have got as a result of an “important question” of where Ram was born perhaps thousands of years earlier. Very important for people of current generation and future I must say. Well, Ram is long gone… He has left behind a land of divided society – something he did not allow in his own time – but which his disciples have found fit to force on this revered land and all of us. Since 6th December 1992… we are all either Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs… Being Indian went out of fashion. And I fear any pronouncement on the cases related to Babri and events of the day will not reverse that… whichever way the dice rolls.

Perhaps someday I will get a chance to take revenge for the part that went dead in me (on that day) and that perhaps I will be able to push the perpetrators at Hell’s helm and make them beg… "Ek Dhakka aur do…"

Think about it.

Its Montoo..
(16th Sep 2010’ – 20th Sep 2010’)