In the last few days, there has been a lot of discussion of the destruction of the Babri Masjid. Predictably, the “Saffroniate” has argued that while the mob destruction of the mosque was wrong, the decision to build a Ram Temple on the site of the mosque is justified.
This post will serve as a brief rebuttal to this argument. India is a constitutionally secular state. In a constitutionally secular state, there is absolutely no excuse for destroying a minority place of worship–no matter what the circumstances. This is a red line that must never be crossed. While Babri may not be equivalent to Notre Dame–I am personally agnostic about this argument– there is no excuse for even one mosque to be destroyed in a secular state. The decision to build a Ram Temple where the mosque used to be is a post-facto justification of the mob destruction of the minority place of worship.
The argument has been made that India instituted a new piece of legislation–the Places of Worship Act– in order to make sure that such an incident doesn’t take place again. The question was asked if Pakistan has instituted similar legislation. Continue reading A secular state does not allow a minority place of worship to be destroyed