By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: Former diplomat and parliamentarian Syed Shahabuddin, who is an authority on the Babri Masjid case, said Pt Jawaharlal Nehru’s letter wherein he asked authorities to remove the idols from the Babri Masjid has already published and is preserved in the Nehru Museum.
“Besides, the court is in possession of the affidavit filed by the Deputy Commissioner of Faizabad wherein he, as the representative of the government, told the court that some people illegally and forcibly entered the mosque and installed the idols,” says Syed Shahabuddin.
During the last week hearing of the Babri Masjid title suit in the special court in Lucknow, the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh government told the court that they did not have the telegram sent by Pt Nehru to then Chief Secretary of the state. For long the court has demanded the state government to produce the letter and the correspondence between Chief Secretary and Commissioner of Faizabad. In 1949 Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had sent a telegram to the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh asking the authorities to remove the idols from the Babri Masjid forthwith. That important telegram is feared to have gone missing or destroyed in the secretariat.
Excerpts of an interview with Syed Shahabuddin on the issue:
Missing files
Whether or not Pt Jawaharlal Nehru sent telegram in this regard I do not remember at this point of time. But he certainly sent the letter to chief minister (then called prime minister) of Uttar Pradesh. That letter has already published. One can find it in Nehru Museum in Delhi. I myself have read the letter wherein he expressed his grief at the incident (installation of idols in Babri Masjid) and asked the authorities to remove them. I am also sure he must have sent the order to do so to Faizabad authorities through the chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh.
We also know the response of Deputy Commissioner of Faizabad to the order to remove the idols. Commissioner’s letter also has published. He wrote: “I am not responsible for the installation of the idols in the mosque. But I know that if the idols are removed now, it will enrage the public and communal riots will erupt not only in Ayodhya but far and wide.”
But we don’t know about the next move of Pt Nehru after this response of the Deputy Commissioner. But it is clear that he did not take any hard step to remove the idols from the mosque.
If government does not find the document
If a government does not provide a particular document to the court on demand, the court will be forced to draw conclusion. The government has been given so much time. They are still being given enough time. Papers do not evaporate in the air. They are destroyed, thrown or torn. I don’t know why the government is not able to find these documents. The case is in the last stage. The court cannot wait for the document forever. The court will have before it the published documents relevant to the case including Pt Nehru’s letter. And it can draw conclusion.
Significance of the missing document
One of the basic documents establishing the mosque and its genuine ownership by Muslims is the affidavit filed by the next deputy commissioner of Faizabad in the court as representative of the government. In the affidavit he said: some people entered the mosque illegally and by force and installed the idols inside. And these documents are already in the possession of the court.