India?s Supreme Court endorses right-wing vision relegating Muslims to second-class citizens

Like many Indians, I was glued to the television set on Saturday, awaiting the Supreme Court’s decision about the site of the Babri Masjid, an important mosque and monument of faith for Indian Muslims demolished in 1992 by right-wing Hindu nationalists.The court delivered a huge victory for the nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, by awarding the land at the heart of the clash to a Hindu litigant over Muslim objections. “It is a moment of fulfillment for me because God almighty had given me an opportunity to make my own humble contribution to the mass movement, the biggest since India’s freedom movement, aimed at the outcome which the Supreme Court verdict today has made possible,” he said.Like many Indian Muslims back home, I’ve struggled to make sense of the kind of “justice” that is being celebrated, this closure and relief many speak of. The term was popularized by editorials in right-wing newspapers in Mumbai.On Saturday, India’s Supreme Court called the demolition of the Babri Masjid illegal but chose to reward the same mob and its leaders with permission to build a grand temple at the disputed site; Muslims were given a piece of land, far removed from the site that was once a grand symbol of their faith.My country chose to “other” me and millions of Muslims yet again, paving the way for right-wing Hindu nationalism to fulfill its dream of a Hindu Rashtra (Hindu Nation).The perpetrators of the destruction and violence that claimed more than 1,000 Muslim lives in 1992 were invited to celebrate and not atone for their crimes.Muslims in India fear that this would indeed be the beginning of reimagining India with Muslims as second-class citizens as envisaged by right-wing supremacists.