Sheher-e-Paighambar

Transcript

00:00 Outlook brings to you excerpts from the issue titled 'In the Name of Ram'

00:04 It analyses the narrative of Ayodhya

00:07 What was, what is and where will it go from here?

00:11 'Shehre Paigambar' by Rakhi Bose from Outlook

00:15 Muslims in Ayodhya brace for the Ram Mandir inauguration

00:19 31 years after the demolition of the Babri Masjid

00:23 Their only wish is to be allowed to live in peace

00:27 50-year-old Mohammad Shahid's jaw clenched and unclenched

00:32 as he watched a young man put up lights on the bare boundary wall of his home

00:37 in Ayodhya's Tedi Bazar, ahead of the grand opening of the Ram Temple

00:42 The lights are mandatory, he has been told

00:45 He cannot help but think of that day, over 31 years ago

00:49 when the house, located just 2 km from where the Babri Masjid then stood

00:54 had been similarly decked up with lights

00:57 It was his sister's wedding in a few days

01:00 But the festivities ended in horror on December 6, 1992

01:05 after the illegal demolition of the Mughal-era mosque

01:09 when Hindu mobs rampaged through Ayodhya

01:12 killing Muslims and setting fire to homes, including his

01:17 Shahid's grandfather, Abdul Ghaffar Khan was the last Imam of the Babri Masjid

01:22 He died in 1990

01:24 It is good that he did not live to see that day

01:27 Shahid states glumly

01:29 His father and his uncle, the Imam's sons, were among the 17 people killed that day

01:35 The charred remains of an ara, sawing machine, gathered dust in his derelict yard

01:41 are the only physical proof the family keeps of the violence

01:45 There used to be a wood workshop here

01:47 where my father worked along with preaching at the mosques across the street

01:52 He was in the workshop when we got news that they were burning pages of the Quran

01:57 We knew we had to run, he recalls

02:00 While the rest of the family, including Shahid's deceased mother, Taibu Nisa Begum

02:05 managed to escape to their neighbour, Haji Mehboob's house

02:08 His father and uncle got separated

02:11 The mob found them eventually, stabbed and burned them alive in different locations

02:17 The wood workshop was reduced to cinders and rioters looted all they could from the house

02:23 including wedding gifts for his sister

02:25 Eventually, Shahid made ends meet by driving a rickety auto-rickshaw

02:30 which helped him get his sister married in 1993

02:33 He proudly declares that his daughter is about to clear medical school

02:37 His two brothers are settled in other places

02:41 For the most part, Shahid has moved on from the tragedy

02:45 For this and more, read the latest issue of Outlook.