India Behind The Lens (News Centre)

Entertainment has produced a 45 minutes documentary on the battle of Sri Ramjanmabhoomi. The documentary, Ram Mandir: Adalat aur Aastha, has been produced both in Hindi and English. It emphasises on the cleansing evidences found in favour of the temple during the excavation conducted at the disputed site on the order of the Allahabad High court, and also the Court verdict delivered on September 30, 2010 accepting those evidences.

“The prime objective of producing this documentary at this moment is to back the aastha (faith) of the common man in Sri Ram and Sri Ramjanmabhoomi with the archaeological evidences that have been accepted by the court and also could not be questioned by the Muslims there. The evidences prove beyond any doubt that there existed a temple beneath the disputed site in Ayodhya, hence it must be handed over to Hindus for reconstructing a grand temple. There could be no better amicable solution to this tangle than it,” said Smt Angha Ghaisas, producer of the documentary, while talking to mediapersons at Press Club in New Delhi on April 9.

She said no way of worship in the world was ever told to scientifically prove the existence of its Gods, as was done in the case of Sri Ram in India some years back. The Hindus agreed for excavation at the disputed site without expressing any anger. The outcome ultimately deepened our aastha (faith) in Sri Ram and Sri Ramjanmabhoomi and armed us with scientific evidences. “This is the reason the documentary has been named as Ram Mandir: Adalat aur Aastha,” Smt Ghaisas said adding that the Union Government by issuing a white paper in 1993 on this issue had promised to hand over the land to Hindus if it is proved that there existed a temple at the disputed site. It is time the Union Government must keep its words, she said.

“Ayodhya is a big issue for the entire country, politically as well as socially. Similarly, the religious and sentimental issues involved with it too are very important. The documentary deals with all these aspects and tries to portray the true picture in the background of the Allahabad High Court judgement,” she added.

She said the entire dispute on Ayodhya has three main issues and sincere effort has been made to address all these issues very carefully in the backdrop of the Court judgement. The three issues are:

# Was the disputed structure a mosque, when was that constructed,
   and who constructed that?
# Was the disputed structure built after demolishing a temple? and
# Is the disputed site the birthplace of Sri Ram?

Smt Ghaisas said the three judges bench of Allahabad High Court comprising of Justice Shri SU Khan, Justice Shri DB Sharma and Justice Shri Sudhir Agarwal in their historic judgement accepted that the disputed structure was indeed built by Babar. However, this structure was built against the tenets of Islam. This implies that neither does it appear like a mosque nor could it be considered as a mosque. The Court has further stated that the controversial structure was built after demolishing a Hindu religious structure. The Archaeological Survey of India undertook an extensive research and carefully excavated the disputed site and certified that there existed a grand Hindu temple there. As far as the third question is concerned all the three judges of the bench were unanimous in their judgement that the disputed place is indeed the birthplace of Sri Ram, she added.



“The most important question in this issue is that nobody has questioned the validity of the archaeological evidences found during the excavation even in the court. Nobody can also claim that the Muslims were not given proper chance in the court to question those evidences. We are the nation which provides legal support to even the terrorists like Ajmal Kasab to ensure transparency in our legal system,” Smt Ghaisas said.

Apart from providing historical background of Ayodhya and also the information about the battles for Sri Ramjamabhoomi, the documentary has comments from top Hindu religious leaders, experts, advocates and the legal luminaries including Pejawar Swami Shri Vishvesh Teertha, Mahant Awaidyanath, Shankaracharya Swami Nishchalanand Saraswati, noted Jain saint Shri Tarun Sagar Maharaj, Gyani Gurjit Singh of Gurudwara Brahmkund Saheb, Ayodhya, Advocate Shri Madan Mohan Pandey, former District Magistrate of Faizabad Shri RS Srivastava, noted archaeologist Prof AK Sharma, former Joint Director General (Epigraphist) of Archaeological Survey of India Dr KV Ramesh, Sunni Central Waqf Board litigant Hashim Ansari, Sunni Waqf Board advocate Jafaryab Jeelani, former Director General of Archaeological Survey of India Dr BB Lal, etc. Interestingly, no top Muslim religious leader reportedly agreed to comment on camera on this issue. “We contacted more than 50 Muslim leaders of the country but none of them gave bite on this issue,” Smt Ghaisas added.

The documentary also points out that the work of stone carving for reconstructing a grand temple in Ayodhya is almost complete and the construction work can begin within a few days if the court permits or the government finds any way for it.

- Pramod Kumar, Organiser