Destruction of Babri Mosque Sparks Riots in India
The destruction of the Babri Mosque on December 6, 1992, marked a pivotal moment in India's sociopolitical landscape, igniting widespread riots that resulted in the loss of approximately two thousand lives. Located in Ayodhya, a significant site for Hindu pilgrimage, the mosque was built in 1528 and was of great importance to India's Muslim community. The Hindu nationalists, supported by political groups like the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), sought to replace the mosque with a temple dedicated to Lord Rama, a revered figure in Hinduism. Tensions escalated despite a ruling from the Supreme Court of India that favored the mosque's preservation. Following the mosque's destruction, anti-Muslim violence also erupted in neighboring countries and continued in subsequent years, notably in Gujarat in 2002. The Babri Mosque incident has remained a contentious issue, particularly among Muslims who advocate for its reconstruction. In 2019, the Supreme Court ruled against rebuilding the mosque but permitted the construction of a new temple at the site, a decision that solidified Hindu nationalist sentiments in contemporary India. The temple's groundbreaking in 2020 and its consecration in 2024 symbolize ongoing religious and cultural tensions in the region.
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Destruction of Babri Mosque Sparks Riots in India
Destruction of Babri Mosque Sparks Riots in India
On December 6, 1992, Hindu extremists destroyed the Babri Mosque in the North Indian town of Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, sparking massive riots which took place intermittently for months and cost as many as two thousand lives before they finally ended. Ayodhya is a center of Hindu religious pilgrimage and has numerous Hindu temples.
The Babri Mosque, a historic structure important to India's Muslim minority, was built in 1528 by the Mughal emperor Babar. The Mughals were Muslim, and Hindus have traditionally believed that they deliberately razed a Hindu shrine commemorating the birthplace of Rama on the site of the mosque. Rama is a warrior-king with a prominent place in the Hindu faith.
For years Hindu nationalists, backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) organization, had demanded that the mosque be demolished and a temple to Rama built in its place—a demand that culminated in their destruction of the temple in 1992. The Supreme Court of India had recently ruled against rebuilding the temple on part of the mosque grounds and said the mosque ought to be left untouched. However, tens of thousands of Hindus from across India soon entered Ayodhya, then a town of about fifteen thousand people. Hindu leaders agreed to leave the mosque alone and perform a symbolic reclamation of the site, but the crowds became unruly and attacked the mosque, left undefended by government paramilitary troops and police.
The riots that followed were some of the bloodiest since India's independence in 1947. Additionally, Hindus were attacked in Muslim-majority countries in Pakistan and Bangladesh (also on the subcontinent and formerly part of British India) and in the Middle East.
Further rioting and anti-Muslim violence occurred in February and March 2002, after a trainload of Hindus on pilgrimage to Ayodhya burned in Gujarat state, headed by then chief minister Narendra Modi. About one thousand people were killed, buildings were destroyed and looted, and rape abounded. Modi, however, faced little censure for his handling of the train incident or the rioting that followed.
In the early twenty-first century, the Babri incident remained a point of considerable discontent among the Muslim minority, who wanted to see the mosque rebuilt. In 2019 the Supreme Court of India ended years of court wrangling over the issue. It ruled against Muslim plaintiffs seeking to rebuild, despite recognizing that the mosque's destruction had been illegal, and instead allotted land elsewhere for them.
The Supreme Court also authorized the construction of the new temple on the long-disputed site. Groundbreaking took place in August 2020, and the completed Ram Temple was consecrated in January 2024.
Observers saw the completion of a new temple as a likely boon to Hindu nationalism in the country and in particular the BJP and Modi, who had risen to prime minister.
Bibliography
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