23rd anniversary of Babri Masjid’s demolition marked by rallies and protests

Unite against State Terrorism! Guilty must be punished!

The 23rd anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid was marked by rallies and protests all over the country.

Unite against State Terrorism! Guilty must be punished!

The 23rd anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid was marked by rallies and protests all over the country.

Over a thousand workers, youth, women and men participated in a rally in the capital on 6th December 2015. The rally was organized at the initiative of the Lok Raj Sangathan, and 25 parties and organisations jointly organized this rally and participated in it. The people marched from Mandi House to the Parliament in the most disciplined manner. But the anger that till date no action had been taken against those guilty of this most criminal act was palpable in the slogans repeatedly raised in one voice through the entire rally. “An attack on one is an attack on all”, “Those guilty of demolishing the Babri Masjid must be punished”. The rally’s call to the people to unite against state terrorism was boldly reflected in the wide banner that was held up front together by one representative of each of the participating organisations: “Unite against the communal terror of the State”.

Lok Raj Sangathan, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Sikh Forum, Communist Ghadar Party of India, Welfare Party of India, United Muslim Front, Social Democratic Party of India, INSAF, Students Islamic Organisation, Association for the Protection of Civil Rights, CPI (M-L)-New Proletarian, Naya Daur Party, Delhi Shramik Sangathan, National Christian Forum, Purogami Mahila Sangathan, Hind Naujawan Ekta Sabha, Mazdoor Ekta Committee, Rahtriya Ulema Council, Citizens for Democracy, Mission Bhartiyam, Nishant Natya Manch, All India  Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, Indian National League and United Sikh Mission were amongst the many organizations that participated in the rally and mass meeting.

At Jantar Mantar, the rally was welcomed by activists of Lok Raj Sangathan on stage, with militant slogans. The meeting began with the President of Lok Raj Sangathan, Shri Raghavan calling upon all those present to unite against state terrorism and take forward the struggle for a society which will ensure happiness and prosperity for all. He hailed the joint rally of 25 organisations as a living example of our conviction that “An attack on one is an attack on all!” He said it was a matter of shame for this state that even after 23 years, the guilty have not been punished. This so-called democracy is nothing but the continuation of the colonial political system set up to oppress the people and divide them so that they will not unite and fight for their rights. He hailed the unity of all the forces gathered and affirmed that “we will continue the struggle for justice and people’s empowerment”.

Among the speakers who addressed the gathering were Nusrat Ali of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Com. Prakash Rao – the spokesperson of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, Com. Sheomangal Sidhanthkar of CPI (M-L)-New Proletarian, Adv. Shahid Ali of United Muslim Front, Siraj Talib of Welfare Party of India, Dr. Zafrul-Islam Khan of All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, Devika Mittal of Mission Bharatiyam, Iqbal Hussain from Student Islamic Organisation, N.D.Pancholi of Citizens for Democracy, Illyas Muhammed of Social Democratic Party of India, Saadat Anwar of Indian National League, Divya from Disha Chhatra Sangathan, Kashif Ahmed Faraz of Association for Political & Civil Rights and Com. Renu of Purogami Mahila Sangathan.

Nishant Natya Manch and Disha Chhatra Sangathan presented stirring songs in support of the united struggle of all peoples for freedom from oppression.

In his address to the meeting, the spokesperson of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, Com. Prakash Rao said that we would be too innocent if we ask the question – Why have the guilty not been punished? The two big political parties of the Indian state were responsible for organising this demolition of the Masjid. It was with the full knowledge and connivance of the Congress Party at the Centre and the BJP government in UP that the demolition took place. This was followed by the genocide of Muslims in Mumbai, Surat and other places by the Shiv Sena under the very eyes of the Maharashtra state government of the Congress party.

It is not as if these criminal parties carried out this heinous act of demolishing the Masjid out of respect for Bhagavan Ram. They have no respect for the religious sentiments of the people. They have learnt from the British to use the sentiments of the people to divide them. After 1857, the British used every means to “divide and rule.” They published lies about the existence of a temple in the Faizabad Gazetteer. In 1949, Nehru who called himself secular – supervised the installation of Ram Lalla on the site. This is how they engendered the whole issue of a “disputed site”. Late on, in 1986, Rajiv Gandhi got the locks of the gates to the Masjid opened. In 1989, the Rajiv Gandhi government allowed the performance of Shilanyas in the Mosque.

We cannot expect that such a State and its governments, whether at the Centre or in the states, will take action against this criminality. It is we the people who have to unite and organise for people to come to power so that the criminals guilty of organising such crimes are punished and we will ensure that such crimes will not take place again.

He cited the shining example of the people of Chennai who are heroically helping each other in the wake of the critical floods that have swept the city. We are of the same blood, he said. None of the politicians can be seen where people need help. It is only the people who are helping out their neighbours. If those who rule cannot protect people’s lives, if they cannot ensure justice, they have no right to rule.

He rejected the division of the polity into a majority and minority communities, which is what the ruling class does to split the unity of the people. He pointed out that the workers and working people constitute the vast majority of our society, and today they are brutally exploited, and powerless. On the other hand, a small minority, the biggest capitalists, are enriching themselves, by exploiting and plundering the labour, land and natural resources of our people. This ruling class deliberately fosters communal and caste divisions and organizes massacres to smash the unity of the people. Com. Prakash Rao reiterated the necessity for further building on such unity as was reflected in this rally and meeting, to take forward the struggle of our people to establish a new state that would actually ensure prosperity and security for all.

In conclusion, Com. Sucharita of Lok Raj Sangathan pointed how justice is vitiated in our country by the rulers. They change the standards of justice depending upon who is under trial. If the agents of the ruling class are to be tried, then it is one standard and another, when workers are put on trial. Citing the recent directive of the Madras High Court to the government of Tamilnadu to refuse permission for demonstrations, rallies and other forms of protest by any religious organisation on December 6, she pointed out that the State uses such tools to curb the legitimate struggles of the people. She concluded with a militant call to all organisations and people present at Jantar Mantar to continue our struggle till justice is realized. 

Seven parties — the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the SUCI (communist), the All India Forward Bloc, the CPIML (Liberation), the RSP and the Communist Ghadar Party of India — organized a joint rally to mark the 23rd anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Hundreds of activists of these seven parties participated militantly in the rally, which began in mandi House and culminated in a public meeting in Jantar Mantar.

The March was organised and led by Delhi CPI Secretary Dhirendra Sharma and assistant Secretary Dinesh Varshney, CPIM state secretary KM Tiwari, AIFB secretary Dharmender Kumar Verma and SUCI(C ) Secretary RK Sharma, amongst others.

The public meeting was addressed by the leaders of the seven parties — CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI National Secretary D Raja, SUCI ( C) Politburo member Krishna Chakraborty, AIFB Secretary G Devrajan, CPIML (Liberation) Politburo Member Kavita Krishnan, RSP Secretary Shatrujit Singh and Prakash Rao, spokesperson of CGPI.

In his address, Comrade Prakash Rao explained briefly how it was not just this or that party, but the ruling class which had deliberately unleashed communalism and communal violence over the past three decades and more, in order to smash the opposition of the working class and toiling masses to the anti worker, anti peasant, and anti national program of globalization through liberalization and privatisation. He pointed out the fact that what has been going on in India, should be seen in the light of the developments the world over in this period of retrogression, which began with the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the declaration of the imperialists that socialism and communism was dead. In fact, all the developments in India and world over are showing again and again that the capitalist imperialist system is thoroughly crisis ridden and can only plunge humanity into greatest disasters, as it is already doing. He pointed out that the rulers of countries like France, US, Britain and others called themselves “secular” and “modern” even while they were launching the most savage attacks on peoples in the name of religion, race, etc, and taking society backwards into medieval times.

Comrade Prakash Rao called upon all communists to draw appropriate lessons and work unitedly with one aim — the victory of revolution and the establishment of the rule of workers and peasants on Indian soil.

 

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