Opinion Seize this moment

Should Muslims go in appeal to the Supreme Court? “Haan,woh to jaana hee chahiye (Yes,that we must do).” And what should the Muslim prayer be? Simple: now that the court has ruled that the disputed spot is indeed the birth spot of Ram Lalla,why not give the entire land to Hindus?

Black humour in difficult times? My friend swore he was not exaggerating one bit. But just to be doubly sure,I phoned another Muslim friend,Asif Khan,who lives in the heart of the same Muslim cluster and works for the Urdu daily,Sahafat. He too claimed that from the conversation among the Sahafat staff and the several calls received from readers it is evident that a lot of Mumbai’s Muslims are quite happy with the verdict. Asif’s explanation: one,“the happiness is a result of the dissolution of fear”; two,by granting the right of Muslims to a part of the disputed plot,“the judgment gives the community something to latch on to.”

Sajid Shaikh is an activist and a businessman who lives and works in a sprawling slum in Jogeshwari (east),among the worst affected localities of Mumbai while Bombay burned in December 1992-January 1993. Sajid believes the ruling is a “political judgment” not a “legal judgment” but he welcomes it as it shows a way out of the impasse. He has something more to add: “It seems that while secular activists like us are questioning the judgment,the Aam Mussalman sees things differently. On Thursday evening I took a foreign TV crew around my area as they wanted to interview a cross section of young Muslims. The post-1992 generation of Muslims they interviewed were very happy with the judgment because according to them the court has recognised the right of both a mandir and a masjid to be there. Interestingly,most of them were quick to add,“Don’t talk to us about the past,talk about our future; talk about education and decent jobs.” Muslims on the move?

Is this the universal mood among Mumbai’s Muslims,the worst victims of the fallout of the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992? The answer is no. “It’s a panchayati faisla ,not the verdict of a secular court,” says Maulana Shoaib Koti,who often describes himself as a “freelance Maulana”. “Had the court decided on legal grounds that the disputed land does not belong to Muslims,it would have been readily accepted by the entire community. Still,one thing is certain. Post-1992 the entire community has learnt a major lesson: respect for the rule of law.”

It is a maxim of mature democracies that where there is no justice,there is no peace. Is there justice in India? It’s up to you,dear reader,to ask yourself that question. Have the victims of communal mass killings — Nellie,Assam (1983),Delhi (1984),Malliana,Meerut (1987),Bhagalpur (1989),Mumbai (1992-93),Gujarat (2002),Kandhamal,Orissa (2008) — got justice? Have the masterminds,the main perpetrators of mass crimes or the policemen guilty of partisan conduct been punished? What prospects of a verdict on the crime committed in Ayodhya on December 6,1992,during the life-time of many of the main accused?

In the last week or so the media has discovered a magic word: reconciliation. Nelson Mandela has shown the world that in certain circumstances there could be an alternate route to peace — Truth and Reconciliation. But in the land of the Mahatma there is no Mandela in sight and the demand of the hour is reconciliation minus justice,minus truth.

The Constitution of India does guarantee the security of life and property to all citizens. But the institutions of secular India do not take that constitutional obligation too seriously. “Apni jaan kis ko pyari nahin hoti? (Who does not value his life?),” says my friend Asif Khan. So it seems that India’s Muslims are reconciled to a “reconciliation” out of fear for their life and limb. Triumph of majoritarianism?

In August 1992,five months before the Babri Masjid was demolished,I had argued in an article in The Sunday Observer (now extinct) that the only possible resolution of the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi conflict was for Muslims to unilaterally relinquish their claim to the disputed plot. My reasons are different now,but the plea remains the same. Forget about appealing to the Supreme Court. In the best interests of the country and the community itself,Muslims must gift away even the one-third of the plot that for the moment is legally theirs. The disputed plot in Ayodhya,which millions of Hindus have come to believe as the birthplace of Ram Lalla,is absolutely the last place where the battle for the Idea of India — secular or majoritarian — must be fought.

The writer is general secretary,Muslims for Secular Democracy express@expressindia.com