which only means God, is great. Similarly those who are performing prayer at the mosques should not take exception to others in the neighbourhood worshipping Ram.
Once this is realized there will be no quarrel at all. The Hindus and Muslims would rather join together and build a composite house of worship of universal faith, which will be open not only to Muslims and Hindus, but others also, come to pray. That will indeed be the fulfillments of King Akbar’s dream of a Common House of God or Vivekanand’s dream of an India that combines an Islamic classless society with vedantic soul.
There is really no ground for any conflict or difference of opinion if we rightly think of it.
Excavation of Disputed Site
Twenty-six men lined up at the gate of the Ram Janam Bhoomi Complex in Ayodhya on the morning of Wednesday, March 12, 2003 carrying shovels, knives, identity cards and slightly confused expressions. For a team apparently on the verge of uncovering history, they looked fairly innocuous and could easily have been labourers answering the roll call at the construction site next door.
Yet their work conditions in Ayodhya were anything but every day. A contingent of the Central Reserve Police force frisked them and inspected their cards. Onlookers and assorted media people gawked at them. What this; humble group was about to embark on could potentially define the future of Indian politics. They were part of the 52-foot soldiers contracted by the Archaeological survey of India to excavate the Ram Janam bhoomi Babrij Masjid area.
The three-domed disputed structure was, of course, demolished on December 6, 1992, and in its place sits a “makeshift temple”, from behind a barricade. The devout can worship the idol of Ram Lalla. The area immediately adjacent to the makeshift temple is covered by a bright shamiana. On the morning of March 12, behind the curtain, waiting for the ASFs hired workers was B. R. Mani, superintending archaeologist.
Mani heads a team of 14 including to consultants from Toja Vikas, the firm behind the radar survey that provides the road map, for the excavation. On March 12 morning, the ASI team met the parties contesting the Mandir Masjid title suit before the Allahabad High Court, surveyed the 5,000 odd sq. ft. to be excavated in essence, satisfied all concerned of the ASFs bona fides. At 1.30 p.m., the earth began to be scraped off, bit-by-bit, particle by particle. Mani’s monumental mission was under way.
The excavation had been ordered by the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High court on March 5. The court sought the answer to a seemingly simple question: was the Babri Masjid built on the remains of an earlier Hindu temple, structure. The ASI was asked to report back ‘within a m6nth’.
The full findings may take some time. They will also invariably be subjected to semantic hair-splitting. However, indications are that the eminent historians who have so far dismissed all existing evidence as either motivated or fabricated may have to eat crow. Ayodhya may still remain a burning issue but at least there will be fewer falsehoods to confront.
More pertinent is the legal value of ‘evidence’ that may be unearthed. There are four title suits — two filled by individual Hindus, one by the Nirrnohi Akhada and one by the Sunni Central Wakf Board that have been bunched together by the high court in 1989. A set of 22 issues was framed on the basis of points raised by the various litigants to help the court understand their respective claims. The digging that has now commenced will establish the nature of the structures and their antiquity but it will be a slow process.
Meanwhile, what is really needed is to bridge the gulf that is widening every day between various communities and here all the political parties, of one shade or the other, must search their hearts and find an amicable way out.