In an interview ahead of the verdict, Zafaryab Jilani, who represented the “Muslim parties” for 33 years, said that he had hoped the Supreme Court’s verdict would be based on evidence, not aastha (belief). “We are fighting for the rule of law and rule of democracy, not just for one mosque. If we surrender, no mosque will be secure in the country and no minority community will feel safe,” he said.
BBC’s former bureau chief Sir William Mark Tully recalled the demolition of the mosque on 6 December, 1992. “I saw this sight of a police officer pushing his way through his men so that he could run away faster than the men. And the police just deserted,” he said.
Faizan Mustafa, a law professor and Vice Chancellor of NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, told Nikhila Henry that the Supreme Court seems to have weighed religious belief over the rule of law. Noting that “faith has the last laugh,” he said, “The judgment upholds a majoritarian point of view.”
Henry also reported on Thol Thirumavalavan, a Dalit lawmaker from Tamil Nadu, the only non-minority lawmaker to express his disappointment at the decision. In an open letter, Thirumavalavan wrote, “The faith in Supreme Court is shattered.”
Akshay Deshmane spoke to Madhav Godbole, who was the Union Home Secretary in Narasimha Rao’s government when the mosque was demolished in 1992. Godbole, whose book on the dispute was published in August, had written there that the evidence was in favour of Muslims, but told Deshmane that everyone should accept the Supreme Court’s decision.
Senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideologue M.G.Vaidya told Pavan Dahat, “My only wish is that the land for Masjid should be outside five acres of Pradakshina land of Mandir.”
Thank you for your feedback on The Idea of Indianewsletter, which looks at differing views in an attempt to draw us back into an even-handed conversation.
Sharing his “Idea of India”, Manokamana, a 23-year-old lawyer, said that he really thought India was “about to change for the better” when Prime Minister Modi was first elected to power in 2014, but has since then he has “seen a lot that has changed my mind.”
Raising several points of concern such as “silence and diversion, “never-ending what-about-ery” and the “economy,” Manokamana writes, “It’s like Narendra Modi is the Salman Khan of Indian politics. No matter what he does, how bad it is, how much grave consequences his actions have, he’s the ‘hero’.”
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