Massacre of Hindus in their own home land By Rohini Verma

We all know about Ram janam bhoomi movement, but maybe not enough. Thousands of Hindus have been killed in attempt to make a Ram mandir in Ayodhya. On the other hand, there are people who have sabotaged the Hindu dream in every possible way. In this category comes the man called - Mulayam Singh, the ex-chief minister of U.P. Though, he has handed over his legacy to his son Akhilesh, but there was a notorious and dreadful role played by Mulayam Singh, when he was the CM.

Demolition of Ram mandir:

The Babri masjid was constructed on the site of an old Ram temple in 1528 after demolition of the Ram mandir. The Archaeological Survey of India has proved that this structure was a massive Hindu religious structure. In 1853, there were first recorded incidents of religious violence at the site. In 1986, District judge ordered the gates of the disputed mosque to be opened to allow Hindus to worship there. Muslims set up Babri Mosque Action Committee in protest. In one incident, Muslims slaughtered a cow at Ram Janam Bhoomi to inflame the Hindu emotions.

Ram janam bhoomi movement at its peak and Advani’s arrest:

As decided by the Ram bhakts the foundation stone of the Ram temple was to be laid on November 10, 1989. The shilanayas of mandir was done by Rajiv Gandhi before 1989 elections.  In 1990, the then BJP president Lal Krishna Advani took out a cross-country rathyatra to garner support for a Ram temple at Ayodhya. Mulayam Singh had made it clear that he would prevent L. K. Advani’s Ram Rath Yatra from reaching Ayodhya. Mulayam Singh had announced that he would arrest L K Advani as soon as he would enter the state. Later, Advani was arrested in Samastipur, Bihar and yatra was stopped. At the same time, behind the scene, Mulayam Singh was challenging Prime Minister V.P. Singh to intervene. He arrested all leaders of organizations involved in the Ram janma bhoomi movement.

Preventing Karsevaks from entering Ayodhya:

To prevent Karsevaks from going to Ayodhya, Mulayam Singh suspended all public transport in the state, blocked roads, and imposed curfew in a number of cities. House-to-house searches for hiding Karsevaks were carried out. In many instances they were pulled out from their houses and killed later. The state borders were sealed and massive numbers of Hindus were jailed. The numbers cited vary between one and eight lakhs, which is a lot more than the people arrested during the Emergency or the Quit India movement in the whole county. But no media coverage was given to these facts. As citizens of India one should know this side of the story too but no channel or newspaper has guts to publish these facts. Where was the over-active media at the time of killings of the Hindus? Not even a single media house covered the story.

Commitment of Mulla Mulayam:

Almost 200,000 villages sent bricks, 300,000 pujas of the Ram Shilas were performed and altogether about 100 million people attended the various processions that carried the bricks to and from Ayodhya.  Prime Minister Chandrashekhar tried to negotiate with the various groups but talks failed.

The so called “secular” forces had decided to stop the movement. Just before the Babri Masjid was demolished, the U.P. government had expressed its commitment to protect the masjid in its affidavit in the Supreme Court and at the National Integration Council meeting.

Use of excessive force:

On October 30, when according to Mulayam's boast, “no bird would be able to fly into Ayodhya”, thousands of Karsevaks broke through the police defenses. Despite the heaviest security arrangements with 40,000 CRPF and police personnel at Ayodhya town alone and a total of 2,65,000 forces put in nabbing operations throughout the state to prevent people reaching Ayodhya. More than 1,00,000 Karsevaks reached Ayodhya as early as 7:00 am. The then U.P. government used extreme force to stop the karsevaks. Police lathi charge continued for almost 3 hours. By around 11:00 am more than 3,00,000 Karsevaks had come inside Ayodhya. Police attacked them with tear gas shells.

Firing on unarmed people on orders of Mulla Mulayam:

Police started beating sadhus brutally. Beating sadhus prompted karsevaks to move ahead. The firing on kar sevaks started on October 30, 1990, without any warning shots.  The Hindu karsevaks were brutally killed in the police firing. This killing of unarmed innocent Hindus was done on the orders of the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh: Mulayam Singh Yadav. Police shot to kill, not to disperse the crowd. More than 100 Karsevaks died on the spot and many more disappeared.

The treatment given to the dead bodies was more shameful. The dead bodies of killed Hindus were thrown in Saryu river. Hindus were dragged out of their homes and were killed. The dead bodies of Karsevaks were recovered from Sarayu river with sandbags hooked to the bodies so that they would not float. Even women and old sadhus were not spared. If Babur would have been alive, he must have been proud of Mulla Mulayam. He would always be remembered by every Hindu as a traitor and a butcher of Ram bhaktas for Muslim votes.

The firing had earned him the sobriquet of 'Mulla Mulayam' and he got unflinching loyalty of Muslim votes in U.P. In an interview he said that over 11 lakh karsevaks had gathered near the Babri masjid and he took the most appropriate decision at that time to “maintain peace in the country.” Was killing and shooting the unarmed people necessary? Were there no other options like water cannons, rubber bullets, curfew, etc.

By killing Hindus, Mulayam Singh was able to form a formidable MY - Muslim-Yadav vote bank that made him a political force in U.P. that could not be overlooked. Here is a question for Mulayam Singh – would he order firing on Muslims demolishing any Hindu site? We all know the answer. The people who were fired, were not terrorists, they were common citizens of India who were killed on orders of mass murderer Mulayam Singh that too in their own home land. For these killings, no body has been prosecuted, nobody was imprisoned. Perhaps, it will never happen because we live in the so called “secular” India. 

Here Hindus can be treated in any way but nothing will be done, not a word will be spoken. Here, it is to be noted that all the events took place in the background of violence started by Muslims not Hindus. Serious riots broke out in the tehsil of Colonelganj, Uttar Pradesh and in nearby villages in the Gonda district. In the same year, on September 30 Muslims threw stones and petrol bombs at a Durga Puja procession. But no legal action was taken against anyone.

Killings of November 2 and use of minority snipers:

On November 2, the Karsevaks came back to janam bhoomi. They were sitting or standing in the narrow lanes near the Janam bhoomi site. Then again the police opened fire. According to press reports, the police skipped the normal procedure of first warning, lathi-charge and teargas, shooting in the air, and ultimately shooting at the legs.

Most of the dead bodies had bullet wounds in the head and chest. The death toll is a matter of dispute. Many dead bodies were carried off in Army vans and unceremoniously disposed off at an unknown place. Many local people, including eyewitnesses, say that several thousands were killed. The most significant point in the killings is that few press reports claim that some of the bullets found in dead or wounded Karsevaks' bodies, were not of the kind the security forces normally use. Some people infer from this, that Mulayam or someone else who had a say in the deployment of the security personnel, had allowed minority snipers to take up positions and join in the shooting.

Number of casualties: In Ayodhya 16,OOO-strong military force was commissioned.  All the educational institutions of U.P. were converted in to temporary jails. According to the VHP, 36 karsevaks died in police firing in Ayodhya on October 30 and November 2 and 23 others had been killed in other places during the karseva agitation. In addition 23 karsevaks were missing. There were newspaper reports that more than 100 people had died including women and children.  According to some sources the death toll was more than 250. Given the anti Hindu nature of the Indian Administration no official enquiry was ever conducted for this massacre in which according to ground sources a minimum of 30-40 thousand Hindus were killed because of the police firing and others were killed in the stampede. The intention of the police was clearly not to disperse the crowds but to ensure a huge body count in order to put the fear of the administration among Hindus. The CRPF men entered many houses and killed people inside. Referring to the firing, the District Magistrate, Sri Ram Saran Srivastawa said, 'I do not understand why they are killing people like this'. The Divisional Commissioner of  Faizabad Mr. Madhukar Gupta said, 'We did not count how many people were killed.' Truckloads of dead bodies were dumped off secretly; several killed and bodies immersed in the Sarayu with sand-bags tied. In 1990 another incident took place known as Godhra School Massacre. In this incident 4 Hindu teachers including 2 women were killed by Muslims in the school.

Satyagraha in Ayodhya:

Some days after the massacre, the Hindu leadership in Ayodhya decided to organize a Satyagraha, with one thousand people courting arrest every day, from December 6 till January 15. The total number of people who courted arrest in those days was over two lakhs.

Wiping out the symbol of subjugation:

A very serious riot broke out in Bijnor in 1990. Curfew had to be imposed for ten days. Heavy police force was deployed in and around Ayodhya. Mulayam Singh had vowed that he would not allow anybody near the masjid and gave a speech on October 9, in which he promised to protect Muslims from any activities of Hindus. There were arrests of karsevaks who were subsequently imprisoned in Bijnor. In 1992, to stop karseva, the central government sent 135 companies of security forces. On Nov. 28, 1992, the Supreme Court permitted karseva. The religious feelings took the shape of a mass movement and the symbol of subjugation Babri masjid was brought to ground on Dec. 6, 1992. It is to be noted that in the process of demolition, no Muslim was killed or targeted. When the BBC announced that the VHP had hoisted its flag on the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, Hindu victory processions marched in Bijnor. They were stoned by Muslims, leading to widespread rioting. In all the cases of murders of Hindus, no one was prosecuted. The 'asthi yatra' of the martyrs who were killed in police firing, was taken out all over India, triggering riots that left over 200 people dead. Curfew had to be imposed in 20 districts of U.P.

Reactions in neighboring countries:

Persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh:

In November 1989, Muslims in Bangladesh destroyed more than 200 Hindu temples, on the pretext of reacting against the Shilanyas in Ayodhya. During this anti-Hindu violence, women were raped, people were killed, shops looted and burned down.

In November 1990, another forty or fifty temples were razed or burnt down in Bangladesh – a nation that could not be free without Indian help. The Bangla minorities' association, reported that in Chittagong district more than fifty Hindu women were raped and hundreds of temples were damaged or burnt down.

Rapes and murders in Pakistan:

In Pakistan, Muslims used the Ayodhya news as an occasion for temple-burning, rape, murder, and looting. In places like Dera Murad Jamali, Sindh, Latifabad and Hyderabad temples were first looted and then burnt.

Demolition of temples in Nepal:

In Nepal, which is a Hindu kingdom, some Hindu temples were burnt down by Muslim gangs, who had probably come over from Bihar.

Judgment of the Allahabad High Court:

The Allahabad High Court pronounced its verdict on four title suits relating to the Ayodhya dispute on 30 September 2010. Ayodhya land was to be divided into three parts. 1/3 went to Ram Lalla represented by Hindu Maha Sabha, 1/3 to Sunni Wakf Board and 1/3 to Nirmohi Akhara. In 2011, the Supreme Court stayed the high court order splitting the disputed site in three parts and said that status quo will remain.

The court imposed status quo so the temple can not be built. But the same court goes silent when the question of killing Hindus rises. No body prosecuted Mulayam Singh for his order of killing unarmed people. It was the second Jallianwala Bagh incident of India, the only difference is that then the ordering authority were British and this time the person wearing the secularism ki topi. 

Courtesy: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/, http://www.massviolence.org/, http://www.oocities.org/ , http://www.frontline.in/, http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/ , http://hinduexistence.org/, https://books.google.co.in, Combating Communalism in India: Key to National Integration, http://www.tribuneindia.com/, http://en.wikipedia.org/, http://elegalix.allahabadhighcourt.in/, http://www.bbc.com/ , http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia , http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/, http://www.business-standard.com/, http://indiatoday.intoday.in/ , http://www.massviolence.org/, http://blogs.wsj.com/, http://archive.indianexpress.com/, http://articles.latimes.com/, http://www.hinduhumanrights.info/, http://www.hvk.org/