No one in the 19th century had ever thought that a simple piece of land where the historic Babri Masjid was standing would turn into the most complicated and knotty problem in the history of India after its demolition on 6 December 1992. The land was once considered an instance of communal harmony as the Hindus used to worship Rama at just a distance of about 100 paces from the Masjid (Radiance, 4-10 March 1990) and no communal tiff had been reported ever. Needless to describe how the situation turned venomous as it is known to every individual. A plethora of books, booklets, pamphlets and manuscripts are available on the issue not only in Indian libraries but also abroad. But, it really gives an immense pleasure to go through the pages of Radiance in order to get details of what happened in Ayodhya those days and how. The Viewsweekly has frozen every moment for the newer generation.
Since the magazine claims itself to represent the Voice of Muslims, it has given full coverage to almost every twist in the issue and critically analysed the “distorted” evidences presented in the court in favour of Ram JanamBhoomi. Radiance (25-31 March 1990) states that Hans Baker’s rare book Ayodhya which contains the history of Ayodhya from 7th century BC to 18th century CE and was published in 1986 by Egberi Forsten, Netherlands and distributed by Moti Lal Banarasi Das. According to the Organiser (27 August 1989), the mouthpiece of the RSS, the book was “an extremely well researched and well documented volume on Ayodhya.”
Radiance got the book issued with the help of a parliamentarian, BN Pandey, because the only copy of the original book was available in parliament library. The magazine, in its review of the book on 25 March 1990, lifted the curtain from the facts and informed the public how the writer had ignored some basic historical facts. “On careful perusal we found the book more damaging to VHP cause than Babur. Hence every library/institute should have its copy and study it carefully to know how the myth regarding Janmabhoomi has grown,” reads a sentence in the Radiance (25-31 March 1990). Sorrowfully, the space does not allow quoting more facts.
Later in its issue on 19-25 August, the magazine x-rayed the evidences provided from the book of J Tieffenthaler and concluded that there were several lingual blunders committed while rendering the book from German into French. The magazine consulted different language experts and included their opinions before reaching to the conclusion (Radiance 14-20 October 1990). There are dozens of articles critically analysing the historical evidences presented in the court especially the series of articles written by S Kaur on the issue is an asset for the magazine.
While covering the issue of Babri Masjid, the magazine seems to act like an advocacy group and it has always offered its valuable suggestions so that the issue may gain momentum. At a time when some members of the Babri Masjid Movement Co-ordination Committee organised a meeting parallel to the meeting of BMMCC, the magazine writes expressing its concern over it, “Mudslinging, maligning, casting aspersions or attributing motives do not behove us as Muslims. It all emasculates Muslims, torpedoes their case and sabotage their larger interest of Islam.” (Radiance, 11-17 December 1988)
The magazine further writes in its issue on 4-10 March 1990 quoting Kanchan Gupta, “The pillars of the temple at Ayodhya will rest on everything Dharma does not stand for. And no such temple can bring Maryada to the nation nor can it revive our ancient Sanskriti.”
In this regard the journal included the opinion of Prof. ML Sondhi of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, who was of the opinion that only a Hindu can run the country in a proper way and the reason why Nehru lost to China in 1962 was because he was not fully attached with Hindu Sanskriti (civilisation). (Radiance, 20-26 October 1991). It is pertaining to note here that Sondhi was the member of BJP executive committee. One may see the excerpts from the speech of then General Secretary of VHP, Ashok Singhal, in Radiance 20-26 August 1989. In his speeches he used to say that it was a duty of the minorities to obey the majority in order to lead a peaceful life.
The Babri Masjid Special of Radiance on 25 November-1 December 1990 is complete in itself and this writer, after several attempts, failed to decide which part of it be included in this review article. All the items in it seem inter-connected. It carries the Facsimile copy of the FIR lodged in 1949 regarding the hoo-ha on the issue. The FIR was lodged by senior sub-inspector of Ayodhya, Pandit Shri Ram Dev Dubey. The FIR reads, “…Ram Das, Shukla Das, Sudarshan Das and 50-60 unknowns desecrated (Napak Kiya Hai) the mosque by trespassing the mosque through rioting and placing idol in it.” The case had been registered under 1949 u/s 147/295/448 of the Indian Penal Code. This special issue and one more issue (17-23 June 1990) give details of day-to-day development on the issue right from 1885 till this time.
Commenting on the report of Liberhan Commission, which was constituted to probe the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the magazine (6 December 2009) reads editorially, “It is the irony of ironies that the Justice Liberhan Commission condemns and indicts sangh parivar leaders for their active role in the demolition of Babri Masjid, or in the commission’s words for bringing the nation “to the brink of communal discord” but does not suggest any punitive action against them! … Is this the fruit of spending Rs. 8 crore on the functioning of the commission, which took 17 long years and was given 48 extensions?” It further adds, “…commissions are formed with the sole objective to cool down the public rage, or in other words to hoodwink the victims.” (Radiance, 6 December 2009).
Clearing its stand post-verdict of Allahabad High Court, the magazine writes in its cover story on 24 October 2010, “Efforts are being made to make people accept the judgment as it is. It is very dangerous. Upholding the supremacy of constitutional law and the facts is imperative. If these efforts succeeded, it will create a precarious precedent of giving ‘sentiments’ of a stronger group legitimacy against facts and supremacy upon sentiments of weaker sections.… Therefore it is very important to challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court…. Hindu sentiments cannot be held more pious than others,” adding, “The verdict has raised questions about fundamentals of jurisprudence, rule of law and the principles of secular democracy.” (Radiance, 17 October 2010).
Post-verdict of Allahabad High Court, when the Muslims decided to approach the Apex Court, some radical Hindus termed this act of theirs as creating hurdle in the way of development. On this the magazine writes, “We ask, does justice to an aggrieved minority reverses the progress. Is going to the Apex Court affect the rising curve of our GDP, exports, seat in the UN Security Council, might of our Military, Air Force and our Navy and our nuclear capability? Is avoidably waging tongues also an argument! ” (Radiance, 10 October 2010).
It will not be out of context to quote a paragraph from the Viewsweekly (17 October 2010), “Gurdwara Shahid Ganj is a holy place for both Muslims and Sikhs in Lahore, Pakistan. The Gurdwara was built in the 18th century after demolishing a mosque. The Sikhs believed that Bhai Taru Singh with some 3000 captives was killed at this place and so it is named ‘Shahid Ganj’ and so it is a sacred place for them. Instead of demolishing the structure, Muslims filed a case in 1850 for reversion of the mosque. On 26 Jan 1938 the case was dismissed from the High Court and thereafter the Muslims further appealed to the judicial committee of the Privy Council. On 2 May 1940 the final verdict was delivered dismissing the claim of Muslims. Since the structure was very old the damages caused to the Gurdwara was recently renovated by the Pakistan government.”
The Viewsweekly always seemed optimistic and hopeful as far as the issue of Babri Masjid is concerned. The magazine on 13 December 2009 editorially reads, “The world is watching with interest, whether justice is done in the case of Babri Masjid and finally history will decide the enormity of the crime of the perpetrators. And lastly God will decide the fate of the denigrators of the House of God – those who divided the people and incited them to violence and bloodshed. There may be delay in this but we are sure there would not be injustice.”
Also, the journal has always used words like “Hindu brethren” whenever it described general Hindus. It is the speciality of this magazine that when others become biased while covering the sentiments of their community this magazine retains its credibility and neutrality which is necessarily required to be a media house. This only is enough to prove that though the magazine is being considered Muslim Voice yet it never compromised with the norms and standards of a media and no honest man can dare say it became partial while covering issues related to the Muslim community.