Sheher-e-Paighambar
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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.