Where We Correct Dilip

Dilip D’souza quotes,

Yes, Babar must have come to Ayodhya, he must have stumbled on a ruined structure and asked what it was. He must have been told that it is the birthplace of Ram and Lakshman – ‘then it is pavitra bhoomi (sacred land). There should be ibaadat (worship) in such a place. Prayers and devotion. Raise a mosque here’. And thus a Babri Masjid must have come to be.[link]

Then he asks: Why is this less believable than the stories about Babar demolishing an existing Ram Temple.

Hmmm. Why not extend it a little further? Babar was 12, sitting in the gardens of Farghana, when he dreamed of the Pavitra land of Ayodhya and the old Temple ruins. Then and there he decided, I need to invade India and  ensure that ibadaat must take place at such a pavitra land.  Rest, as they say is history.

Why is this less believeable?

Let me get serious here. The point is that Dilip’ post reveals a deeply flawed thinking which unfortunately has characterised much of the debate over this issue.

Lets assume the worst case scenario, far more likely than the nonsensical story Dilip quotes. That Babar came to Ayodhya, found a Temple and razed it to ground and constructed a Mosque.

So what? What difference does it make? How does that give Hindus the right to demolish the Babri Masjid in the 20th century? How does it matter whether a Temple existed there or not?

Muslims of this century are not responsible for what Babar did.  In fact, I don’t even hold Babar responsible-if he did actually demolish the Temple. Thats how people behaved those days. We have made some progress from the 15th century, right?

Instead, we have this nonsense of court cases and one set of historians trying to prove that the Temple existed, another set questioning if Ram existed and blah blah. This has only lead to false hopes and needless acrimony and riots. At the very beginning, the Courts should have thrown out the case. Simply because we cannot waste our time trying to correct historical wrongdoings. What has happened has happened. Lets close the bloody chapter and move on.

I have always argued that the only solution is to demolish the ramshackle Hindu temple, by force if necessary, and hand over the  site to Muslims-so they can reconstruct the Babri masjid. What Babar (allegedly) did cannot be corrected but what happened in 1992 certainly can be. Because we know it happened.

And thats what makes it believable!