Demonstration to demand that the guilty be punished, 20 years after the demolition of the Babri Masjid

On the occasion of 20 years since the demolition of the Babri Masjid, around one dozen organisations held a protest demonstration on 6 December 2012 in Delhi. The protesters marched from Mandi House chowk to Jantar Mantar where the procession transformed into a public meeting. A street play, which exposed the way the State organises communal violence, was staged by a group of youth.

On the occasion of 20 years since the demolition of the Babri Masjid, around one dozen organisations held a protest demonstration on 6 December 2012 in Delhi. The protesters marched from Mandi House chowk to Jantar Mantar where the procession transformed into a public meeting. A street play, which exposed the way the State organises communal violence, was staged by a group of youth. Subsequently, various organisations put forward their views. Apart from the Communist Ghadar Party of India, the organisers included the Welfare Party of India, Lok Raj Sangathan, the Sikh Forum, Sikkhi Sidak, Better Sikh Schools, Socialist Yuvajan Sabha, Purogami Mahila Sangathan, Hind Naujawan Ekta Sabha, Association for Protection of Civil Rights, Manipur Students Association Delhi, All India Loco Running Staff Association and the Mazdoor Ekta Committee.

The protesters shouted militant slogans and held placards that had the following demands – “Unite to demand that the guilty are punished!”, “Carry forward the struggle for the empowerment of the people and for deep going reforms for the renewal of India!”, “Communalism and secularism are two aspects of the policy of the rulers!”, “Both Congress Party and the BJP are responsible for the destruction of the Babri Masjid, a historic monument!”, “An attack on one is an attack on all!”, “The Indian State is communal and not the Indian people!”, “Those responsible for the communal massacres in 1984, 1992-93, 2002, Odisha and Assam should be severely punished!”, “Down with state organised terrorism!”, “Unite against state organised communal violence”, “Communal violence is the favorite weapon of the state to divide the people”, etc.

Addressing the meeting, the representative of CGPI said that from colonial times, the Babri Masjid issue has been kept inflamed and the process for its destruction was initiated by the Rajiv Gandhi government when it unlocked the gates after 40 years in 1986. Explaining the context in which this event took place, he said that the Indian capitalists had decided in the decade of the 80s to open the doors of the Indian economy to foreign capital. The repeated state organised communal massacres in 1984, 1993 and 2002 were carried out to break the growing opposition of the people to these policies. He emphasized that those who are fighting for justice and to end communalism and communal violence have to face up to the fact that the root of this problem lies is in the existing state and the Constitution. He gave a call to end the colonial legacy by laying the foundation of a new state and a new political process that will empower the people. He said that to end communal violence forever we need to establish a new Constitution, which will guarantee the right to conscience along with human and national rights.

Others who addressed the meeting included speakers from the Welfare Party of India, Lok Raj Sangathan, Sikh Forum, Muslim Political Council of India, Purogami Mahila Sangathan, Hind Naujawan Ekta Sabha, Association for Protection of Civil Rights, National Confederation for human Rights Organisations, Manipur Students Association Delhi. In the end, the various protest demonstrations at Jantar Mantar came together to march and shout slogans together as mark of growing unity in the movement to punish the guilty.

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