Harish Khare: India's Liberal and Democratic Voices Must Get Ready for Another Battle

Before Ranjan Gogoi there was Jagdish Sharan Verma. We may have a very good reason  to quibble vehemently with Justice Gogoi and his  Ayodhya verdict for having provided judicial aid and comfort to the practitioners of a certain kind of  vicious  majoritarianism; but, let it be recalled that on this count  Justice Verma was the original sinner. It was Justice Verma’s “Hindutva” judgment of December 1995, just three years after the December 6, 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid, that gave some respectability to the arguments behind the “this land belongs to the Hindus” politics. The Verma judgment simply legitimised the electoral politics of  Hindu mobilisation. One contemporary commentator, A.G. Noorani, had noted matter-of-factly: “In one fell blow, the wall of separation which the founding fathers built so laboriously to keep religion and politics apart is destroyed. Elections can be fought to make India a theocratic state.”

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Those were genuine fears, clearly spelled out, but India did not become a theocratic state. What redeemed a dark possibility was that politics was so conducted – often patchily, no doubt – as to contain the consequences of a profound judicial folly. For years, the Hindutva forces were kept at bay; even during the Vajpayee era, when the BJP ruled at the Centre, the Hindutva camp was never allowed to feel dominant or triumphant. Of course, the follies and stupidities of the ‘secular’ parties and politicians allowed the Hindutva forces to establish a beach-head, but not before 2014.

It is equally relevant to remember that towards the end of his life Justice Verma reportedly came to rue his judgment; it was obvious to him – as it was to anyone blessed with an iota of political sense – that the Hindutva forces had mischievously run away with the Verma ball...

https://thewire.in/politics/indias-liberal-and-democratic-voices-must-get-ready-for-another-battle

see also

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Pratap Bhanu Mehta: Ram’s political triumph
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Farah Naqvi - Ayodhya Verdict: India’s Muslims Sought Dignity, Not Land
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