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Role Name Affiliation National Coordinator Subject Coordinator Prof Sujata Patel Dept. Of Sociology, University of Hyderabad Paper Coordinator Prof. Edward Rodrigues Centre for the Study of Social Systems Jawaharlal Nehru University Content Writer Kumud Ranjan Research Fellow Jawaharlal Nehru University Content Reviewer Prof.Edward Rodrigues Centre for the Study of Social Systems Jawaharlal Nehru University Language Editor Prof.Edward Rodrigues Centre for the Study of Social Systems Jawaharlal Nehru University Technical Conversion Module Structure The Ram Janmabhoomi Movement One of the major shift in Indian Politics and society began with the dispute around The Babri Masjid/ Ram janambhoomi controversy. Since then it has been considered to be a broader significant issue not only in the context of relationship between two communities but also shaped the discourse of society and politics and historicity in India and to a large extent the way people perceived the relationship between majority and minority. This dispute further led politicians to redefine the status and boundaries of two religious communities in India. The issue of Babri Masjid-Ram Janambhoomi is among those issues where myth, faith, belief, history and its legality are brought into questioning. Description of the Module Items Description of the Module Subject Name Sociology Paper Name Religion and Society Module Name/Title The Ram Janambhoomi Movement Module Id Module no. 27 Pre Requisites To Understand the historical context of the dispute of Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid. To Understand the political context in which the issue reemerged. Objectives To Trace the socio-historical context of Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid issue in the different political settings. To understand the major shift this dispute brought to the political discourse in India. Key words Babri, Ram, Ayodhya, Hindu, Muslim. Religion and Society Module 27: The Ram Janmabhoomi Movement Introduction: One of the major shift in Indian Politics and society began with the dispute around The Babri Masjid/ Ram janambhoomi controversy. Since then it has been considered to be a broader significant issue not only in the context of relationship between two communities but also shaped the discourse of society and politics and historicity in India and to a large extent the way people perceived the relationship between majority and minority. This dispute further led politicians to redefine the status and boundaries of two religious communities in India. The issue of Babri Masjid-Ram Janambhoomi is among those issues where myth, faith, belief, history and its legality are brought into questioning. A History of the Event: Let’s start with an overview of socio-historical analysis of the issue through the writings of several historians published as a document titled ‘The Political Abuse of History: Babri Masjid-Rama Janmabhoomi Dispute’. This will give us a chronological kind of understanding along with the analysis of the issue. This document by historians tries to demarcate the boundaries of myth, faith and legitimacy over history and historical evidence. In this context the first question raised by them is ‘Is Ayodhya the birthplace of Rama? Is Present day Ayodhya the Ayodhya of Ramayana? The events of the story of Rama, originally told in the Rama-Katha which is no longer available to us, were rewritten in the form of a long epic poem, the Ramayana, by Valmiki. Since this is a poem and much of it could have been fictional, including characters and places, historians cannot accept the personalities, the events or the locations as historically authentic unless there is other supporting evidence from sources regarded as more reliable by historians. Very often historical evidence contradicts popular beliefs. According to Valmiki Ramayana, Rama, the King of Ayodhya, was born in the Treta Yuga, that is thousands of years before the Kali Yuga which is supposed to begin in 3102 BC. This myth of 're-discovery' of Ayodhya, this claim to an ancient sacred lineage, is an effort to impart to a city a specific religious sanctity which it lacked. But even in the myths the process of identification of the sites appears uncertain and arbitrary. This myth of 're-discovery' of Ayodhya, this claim to an ancient sacred lineage, is an effort to impart to a city a specific religious sanctity which it lacked. But even in the myths the process of identification of the sites appears uncertain and arbitrary. If present day Ayodhya was known as Saketa before the fifth century, then the Ayodhya of Valmiki's Ramayana was fictional. If so, the identification of Rama janmabhumi in Ayodhya today becomes a matter of faith, not of historical evidence. The historical uncertainty regarding the possible location of the Rama janmabhoomi contrasts with the historical certainty of the birthplace of the Buddha. Two centuries after the death of the Buddha, Asoka Maurya put up an inscription at the village of Lumbini to commemorate it as the Buddha's birthplace. However, even in this case, the inscription merely refers to the village near which he was born and does not even attempt to indicate the precise birth place. After Independence, some local Hindus thought that the time had come to restore the entire site to its original proposes for the ownership of Ram and it was take over surreptitiously by a group of fifty to sixty persons in the night, who installed Hind idols on the mosque premises. On December 29, 1949, however in response to Muslim demands for the removal of the idols and restoration of the mosque, the district court attached the buildings, locked them, and placed them in the hands of the receiver. A little suit was instituted by Muslims in 1950, which has been pending ever since. After a lapse of thirty-six years, in January, 1986 an agitation was begun by a Hindu Organization, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), with the support of the RSS and the BJP, for the restoration of the site as a place of Hindu worship. The VHP was founded in 1964. Its goals were not confined to Ayodhya. Its leaders prepared a list also of numerous mosques in India allegedly built upon Krishna’s birthplace and Kashi Vishwanath in Banaras. This movement clearly sought to build Hindu Unity by emphasizing, “the antagonism between Hindus and Muslims. Brass writes that a writ petition was instituted simultaneously with the beginning of the agitation at Ayodhya. In contrast to the delay of thirty-six years in response to the Muslim- instituted title suit, the Hindu petition was heard by a Hindu district judge in Faizabad within a week and the petition to unlock the site for Hindu worship was granted. A writ petition was filed against the order thereafter by Muslims in February, 1986. Again in contrast to the expeditious handling of the Hindu petition, this writ petition has been pending ever since1. 1 Paul Brass (1990) The Politics of India Since Independence, Cambridge University Press, pg no. 242. Re-emergence of the issue in 1986: A Socio-Political Turn The dispute got transformed into a national controversy after February 1986. On the Muslim side, a national Babri Masjid Movement coordination committee (BMCC) was established and other Muslim organizations were also mobilized to agitate for a speedy solution of the controversy in favor of the restoration of the site as a mosque. On the Hindu side, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the RSS, the BJP, and leading Hindu religious figures have continued to campaign for the restoration of the entire site to Hindus for the reconstruction of a grand temple to Ram. The Hindu organizations, however far surpassed Muslim groups in mobilizing public action on this issue through a movement to rebuild the temple with consecrated bricks brought to the site by Hindu faithful. While the courts remained supine, the UP government immobile and Hindu-Muslim confrontations on the increase, appeals were made to then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who at first sought to avoid a decision on the issue. However the situation changed completely with the call for general elections to be held in November 1989. The congress leadership had for a decade been moving away from its longstanding alliance with the Muslim minority leadership in Indian in an attempt to build a stronger support among the Hindu majority voters in areas of the country where the party had either lost power or needed to expand its social base in order to ward off loss of power. Many Muslims blamed the congress for allowing the opening of the site to Hindu worship and for permitting a foundation-laying ceremony to take place in connection with the Shilan march (march to bring bricks to the site for construction of the temple), which contributed to the defeat of the congress in the 1989 elections. And the vote of representation in Parliament increased, although the front formed the government under Prime Minister V.P. Singh while the BJP supported it from outside. In this context Ali Asgar writes that from 30 October 1990, the country has witnessed unprecedented communal violence. It can be said without exaggeration that after 1947 such violence has not been witnessed in the country. Most of the riots took place during or after the rath yatra taken by the then BJP President LK Advani and it covered almost 11,000 Kms. The rath Yatra was announced after VP Singh, the then Prime Minister, announced partial implementation of Mandal Commission's award. Politics of the issue The Ayodhya dispute began when approximately 200,000 Hindu fundamentalists gathered at the site in 1992 to claim it as their space, which led to the demolition of the Babri Mosque. The movement was spearheaded by right wing Hindu organizations whose goal was to build a Lord Ram temple on the disputed site, which was transformed into a "symbol for occupying national space." Ali Asgar writes that it's significant to understand this situation at least from the perspective of Indian politics.

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