For most Muslims, December 6, 1992, is not yesterday. It is today and tomorrow ... Frankly, it was like a physical slap in the collective face of Muslims. 'They' were not only destroying the mosque, 'they' were enjoying themselves hugely. While Kalyan Singh was glorying in the orgy of destruction, PM P.V. Narasimha Rao well-known for his congenital anti-minorityism, was implicitly colluding in the act. Today, the BJP leaders talk of 'unfortunate happenings', of 'confusion' ... Never since 1947 was the division between 'us' and 'them' so apparent.

To get back to the night of December 6, 1992. I said I was the only person in the apartment watching TV. I was wrong. Unknown to me, Rizwan, a young boy from Bihar ... in a stricken voice said, "Masjid gira diye, Saheb". I had never suspected any particular political or zealous religious feeling in Rizwan and yet, despite a vast gulf of age, education and class between us, Rizwan and I were united in a moment of total grief.

Today, I laugh at those who say ... backward castes among Muslims, do not share the grief of the Ashraf (gentry) about Babari Masjid. Naqvi, BJP's minister of state for information and broadcasting, has said in effect in a number of interviews, "Muslims have forgotten the Masjid demolition. Only mischief mongers remind them about this". I reply to Naqvi, "Bhaisaheb, I am a mischief monger. But I ask you one question: "If you prick us, do we not bleed?"

The morning after, on December 7, 1992, I got frenzied calls from local Muslim leaders from Central Bombay. "The boys want to go at the police in revenge for the demolition. Please talk to them". I talked to them, forbidding violence. I failed to convince. A massacre followed. And then, a further massacre and counter- massacre leading up to the genocide of the Muslims in the early months of 1993. I spoke to Dilip Kumar: "Why not talk to your friend Sharad Pawar to send in the army? Dilip Saheb replied: "Maine unse poocha magar unke bartao se aisa laga ke who buri tarah phans gaye hain" (1 asked him but he behaved as if he had been trapped). I leave it to you to work out the nuances of Mr. Pawar's reply.

My most powerful memory of the first months of 1993 was the total loneliness of the Indian Muslims. No one, but really no one, came to our physical or emotional  rescue. I remember the late '40s when Gandhi and Nehru risked their lives to protect Muslims Gandhi lost his life. Today, on December 6, 1998, I salute them. 1 also regret that today there are few Indians with even 10 per cent of the courage of those hero-martyrs.

What of the future? The recent reverses suffered by the BJP in the election in Delhi, Rajasthan and MP will possibly be regarded as a late revenge for the demolition is not so. If the Muslims have flocked to the Congress in these three states, it is to prevent their annihilation by the so-called hardcore elements in the BJP ... There is no distinction between BJP and hardcore. The hardcore owns the BJP, not the other way round. The Muslims have fled to safety. As they say Marta kya na karta. Of courses, this is democracy. Its shifts and turns are intended to and do save minorities. But what about setting right the holocaust of December 6. 1992? There are two possibilities. India may slowly become a genuinely secular democracy. Such a democracy will find its own way of setting right the 1992-93 genocide and its aftermath ..As a political writer, I cannot ignore the dark option. The key to the future lies not in Delhi but in Lucknow ... Kalyan Singh is a clever, operating fascist. If he goes down, he will like Samson, bring down the state with him. Does this mean another December 6,1992? ... (Source: The Times of India, 6 Decernber, 1998)

Left Parties Joint Call to People To Observe December 6 as Day of Communal Harmony

On December 6, 1992 the RSS combine executed the demolition of the Babari Masjid. It was a severe blow to the secular foundations ...

Since the BJP came to power at the centre, the RSS and their other outfits have become very aggressive. Material reparations for a temple at Ayodhya are going on under the patronage of the BJP governments. They have taken up the Kashi Temple issue also ... The "hidden agenda" of the BJP is no more hidden. The BJP is desperate to push through the communal agenda of the RSS. This situation demands the mobilisation of secular forces against communalism ...

Therefore the four Left Parties jointly call upon the people for a countrywide observance of December 6, as Day of Communal Harmonyh ...

CPI                       CPI(M)                 AIFB                     RSP