The demolition at Asind

Published : Aug 18, 2001 00:00 IST

A mob exploits a dispute over access to a dargah to demolish a 16th century mosque.

WHEN a 300-strong crowd demolished a mosque dating back to the 16th century in Asind town in Bhilwara district of southern Rajasthan on July 27, it was thought to be an isolated incident, an aberration involving some misguided youth. But the arguments put forward to justify the action were reminiscent of the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992: "It was not a mosque but a disputed structure"; "No namaaz had been offered there for the last 50 years"; "It was built in order to humiliate Hindus." The question that went unanswered was: Why was it pulled down if it was not a mosque and did not pose a threat to the religious freedom of Hindus?

The mosque (seen in picture taken from a video recording, at right) stood at the spot, no empty, circled. After it was demolished, a Hanuman idol was placed on a marble platform errected at the site. The idol was moved to its present position (circled, at left) after the State government intervened.

The campaign of hatred launched by the Sangh Parivar and its political troupe, the Bharatiya Janata Party, has come full circle in Rajasthan, ironically during Congress(I) rule. The State has witnessed more than seven major instances of communal violence in as many months this year. In every one of the incidents, the complicity of core organisations of the Hindu Right was discernible.

Although the demolition at Asind was carried out in a low-key manner, people belonging to the predominant Gurjar community were mobilised for it by means of the propaganda that the Sawai Bhoj temple was under threat. All this happened when the annual urs in the nearby Badia Dargah was going on.

The Masjid Sawai Bhoj - as the Rajasthan Waqf Board's records refer to the mosque - existed adjacent to the 1,100-year-old Sawai Bhoj temple. Legend has it that a battalion of Emperor Akbar's army built it in the 16th century while on its way back from a battle in Chittaurgarh. Akbar's forces had stopped over briefly at the temple and enjoyed its hospitality. They built the mosque so that saints and travellers could pray there. Akbar later granted the temple 700 bighas of land in gratitude.

The mosque, built in the 'Qalandari' style, was a roofless and decrepit structure when it was pulled down, and had a raised platform and a single wall on the western side, facing the Kaabah. The wall, eight feet high and 10 feet wide, had a dome in the middle and two minarets on the edges. Later the Badia Dargah - where two saints were buried - came up in the vicinity.

The latest round of trouble began during the three-day urs in the dargah, which started on July 26. On the second day a mob burnt down the tents of a Muslim congregation at the dargah. An unresolved dispute over rights of passage to the shrine through the temple complex was said to be the reason. Muslim youth reacted by blocking roads and forcing the closure of the shanty in Asind. The urs remained inconclusive.

In an attempt to cool tempers, the administration engaged representatives of the Gurjar and Muslim communities in talks. However, a crowd that had retreated into the temple complex earlier razed the mosque in no time as the police watched. Since the structure was fragile, it did not take long for the 300-odd people to dismantle it. They hurriedly built a marble platform at the site and installed on it a three-foot idol of Hanuman by the evening. Adding to the provocation, the temple was named 'Mandir Peer Pachhar Hanuman Ji' (temple of Lord Hanuman who vanquished Peer, the Muslim saint buried in the dargah).

The administration kept the incident under wraps for two days, ostensibly for fear of a communal backlash. When the episode finally came to light, doubts were raised about the very existence of the mosque with the argument that it had remained abandoned after 1956 and no namaaz had been offered there since then. But when it became clear that events could take an ugly turn, the State government stepped in. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot persuaded the Gurjar leaders and office-bearers of the Sawai Bhoj Trust to shift the idol from the mosque site. They did it on the night of July 31 and the government hailed it as a "positive gesture" that had helped reverse the impact of the demolition.

The shifting of the idol was only a political remedy. In the days that followed, political acumen or a resolve on the part of the government to allow the legal process to take its own course, was conspicuous by its absence. No action was taken against the district officials concerned for dereliction of duty, nor was any of the persons responsible for the demolition arrested. The government brushed aside allegations that some of the policemen had connived in the demolition before senior officials arrived.

Two criminal cases were registered, under Sections 295 (injuring or defiling a place of worship) and 153-A (promoting enmity on the grounds of religion) of the Indian Penal Code, on the basis of complaints lodged by some members of the Muslim community naming the assailants. The culprits continued to be at large, while the police claimed that the investigation was "in progress".

One of the accused, Mansukh Singh, is the self-styled 'international president' of the Rajesh Pilot Brigade and was instrumental in getting a statue of Rajesh Pilot, the late Congress(I) leader, installed in the temple complex a few months ago. According to the police, he is absconding.

There has been no movement in the matter of reconstructing the mosque. "Our primary objective was to restore normality and control the shocking impact of the demolition," Bhilwara District Collector C.P. Vyas told Frontline. The reconstruction of the mosque and its restoration to the Rajasthan Waqf Board are delicate issues and will have to be handled carefully, according to him.

Within a week of the demolition, the Gurjar community claimed that the demolished "structure" was in fact a "dhooni" (hermitage) of Baba Roopnath, which was frequented by Hindu monks during their journeys through the area. "There is nothing wrong if we want to convert the dhooni into a temple," says Laxmilal Gurjar, chairman of the Sawai Bhoj Temple Trust.

The arguments disputing the status of the mosque reminded observers of the stand taken by the Sangh Parivar during its Ram Janmabhoomi campaign. The Babri Masjid, according to the VHP, was not a mosque because it did not have minarets which are "mandatory" for a Muslim religious building, and namaaz had not been offered there for five decades. The Asind mosque probably fell in the same category.

The Muslim community in the town - whose strength is negligible in the total population of 22,000 - is far from convinced. It has gathered evidence of the existence of the mosque from the video footage of a function organised in the temple complex in April last and sought out the relevant records lying with the State Waqf Board.

Besides, a decades-old book, Bagrawat Deo Narain Mahagatha, written by folk historian Rani Laxmi Kumari Chudawat, mentions the existence of the mosque. Land records mention the existence of both the mosque and the dargah, though it has been alleged that they were tampered with during the settlement procedure in 1992 to show a vast expanse of irrigation land at the place where the dargah exists.

A hurriedly formed Shanti Samiti (peace committee), comprising 10 members each from the two communities and officers of the district administration, decided at its meeting on August 6 to refer the question of reconstruction to the State Waqf Board.

A mosque exists for eternity and the title of a mosque, as well as that of all Waqf properties, vests in God, according to the Waqf Board. "The mosque should be in the legal possession of the Waqf Board, despite the discontinuance of prayers there," Waqf Board chairperson Nasir Ali Naqvi told Frontline. He also said the temple trust should have retained the mosque in order to set an example of tolerance and religious coexistence. In fact, the temple trust had repaired a damaged minaret of the mosque in 1985.

The Sawai Bhoj temple was an example of communal harmony for over 400 years, with the temple and the mosque functioning side by side. History has it that it was built in memory of a Gurjar youth, Sawai Bhoj, who fell in love with Jaimati, the wife of the Raja of Bhenai. In a fierce battle with the Rajput ruler, Sawai Bhoj, his four brothers and mother were killed. The temple was built to commemorate the sacrifice.

The temple complex housed several small temples, shrines, and the mosque - the Badia Dargah was at some distance - until 1980. That year, following the murder of its priest, Mahant Prem Das, a trust was formed and a massive project to build a temple for Deo Narain, worshipped by Gurjars, was undertaken.

The Deo Narain temple towers over all other buildings in the Sawai Bhoj complex. A brick wall was built around the complex early this year and the new temple was consecrated in April. But the wall obstructed free access to the dargah, leading to a dispute. "The trust members had wanted for quite some time to demolish the mosque as it was, with temples on all sides, an eyesore for them. The dispute with the devotees of the dargah gave them a long-awaited opportunity," alleged Rafiq Ahmed Sheikh, leader of the local Muslim community and head of the Sheikh Committee. The mosque had only symbolic value as no namaaz was being offered there, he said.

ASIND has been swamped by policemen, security personnel, district officials, politicians, human rights activists, representatives of civil rights bodies and journalists ever since the demolition came to light. State Home Minister Gulab Singh Shaktawat and Minister of State for Public Relations Jitendra Singh - who is also a Gurjar leader - reached the town to persuade Gurjars to agree to reconstruct the mosque, but to no avail.

"It is sad to see the law-breakers being cajoled by the government. The law should take its course to bring the culprits to book and to set things rights," said Mohammed Salim, president of the Rajasthan unit of the Jamaat-e-Islami-e-Hind. It was the State government's responsibility to rebuild the mosque and restore the status quo, he claimed.

Several factors have contributed to the tension between Gurjars and Muslims reaching flashpoint. Apart from the distrust between the two communities, a leadership tussle among Gurjars too seems to have played its role.

Local leaders are vying with one another to fill the vacuum created by the death of Rajesh Pilot, according to Kavita Srivastava, general secretary of the Rajasthan unit of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). "The hard line adopted by every member of the temple trust can be attributed to this," she said.

Rumours rule the town today. Prohibitory orders were enforced after two meetings of the peace committee failed to evolve a solution. The communal crisis in Asind is far from over. The once strong foundations of community relations are crumbling, and the local residents pray that Asind does not become another Ayodhya.

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