By Saiyed Danish, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: Jantar Mantar witnessed a spate of protests remembering the 22nd anniversary of the demolition of Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992. Various secular and democratic organizations as well as Left organizations came together to demand punishment for the culprits responsible for the demolition of Babri mosque and engineering one of the worst riots which shook the country.
Sikhs who stood by the joint protest were led by Mr. Attam Singh Bakshi who is an educationist by profession. “We have to fight against the mentality behind communalism. That is the root cause. If mentality won’t change there is no use of giving votes to any party,” he said.
“Babri demolition was the demolition of a heritage. It was the demolition of Indian-ness. The corporate sector is becoming strong which is giving rise to extreme poverty. Farmers are committing suicide, natural resources are being looted, and villagers are being displaced. So they have to do something to divert people’s attention from it so riots have to be engineered,” said Pratap Sambhal, state secretary SUCI.
Jamaat e Islami was represented by a group of youths led by Inamur Rehman. “Babri masjid issue should not be taken as a solely Muslim issue. It the issue of humanity. Babri masjid put a question mark on secularism. Our so called secular parties did nothing to stop or prevent form the fire of communalism from spreading.”
He also expressed his views on the court decision which divided the premises of the disputed site into three parts. “No side wanted such a decision. We were not fighting for a mere pie of the cake or something like that. We believe that justice has not been done yet and the issue is in Supreme Court and we will keep fighting.”
Another organization was All India Democratic Youth Organization (AIDSO) which was represented by Asif. “We are fighting communal forces here for two decades now and on my organization fights against education imparted on communal lines. The way religious books hav been introduced in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh is something to worry about as it is an attempt to distort our composite culture of education,” he said.
Sandhya, who represented All India Women Cultural Organization, also put forward her views, “Women are the biggest casualties of riots which are designed by communal forces. We have been rallying against the saffron brigade and its crimes on women all over India. We met Muzaffarnagar women riot victims and have been demanding justice for them since and in the light of which will conduct conventions all over India by the end of this month,” she said.
Raghavan, chairman of Lok Raj Sangthan also expressed his solidarity with the cause of democracy and secularism. “We cannot find a solution by calling Rahul Gandhi secular and Modi communal. It was Rajiv Gandhi who opened the locks of Babri mosque. How can we forget that? We should see this fight as people versus state as the state as a whole has foiled our dreams,” he said.
Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist) New Democracy also protested the events of a day when secularism had hung its head in shame. “The problem is that the ruling class is always hand in gloves with the communal forces. Common people do not understand the greater plans of the fascists. They can’t understand the relation between Amit Shah’s appointment as BJP’s U.P. chief and Muzaffarnagar riots. We are teaching the children beforehand that when they go to college they should know how to differentiate between the progressive and the devastative forces,” said Mrigank, a party leader.
People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism also organized a huge protest which was participated by All India Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, RYA, AISA, ANHAD, AIPWA, Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, All India Secular Forum, SDPI, PUCL et al.
The protest site also witnessed the presence of a right wing organization Rashtravadi Shivsena which asked the people to take a pledge to build Ram Temple at the site and gave slogans such as “Jo Hindu hit ki baat karega woh Hindustan pe Raj karega.” There were, however, no reports of clashes between parties holding opposite views.