Page 210 - Seekers Guide Book

Peace: The Summum Bonum
first bricks to be placed in its foundation. While the
Government appreciated my suggestion, many of the
Muslim leaders unfortunately did not accept the proposal.

Many Muslim leaders incited the masses by saying that
the Arab model would not work in India. They did not
realize that this was a matter of an Islamic principle,
which does not have two versions. If it was implementable
in Saudi Arabia, then it could have been implemented
in India as well. So, the issue which would have been
resolved amicably was not done so.

The court of law cannot resolve this matter. In 1991,
the Indian Parliament passed a legislation called the
Places of Worship Act, 1991. According to this Act, the
Government of India was bound to maintain the status
quo of all places of worship on the Indian soil as they
stood in 1947. But there was an exception to the Babri
Masjid of Ayodhya. The Act maintained that the Babri
Masjid issue was in court, so the government would have
to wait and it would be its duty to implement the verdict
of the court when it was given.

In a nutshell, what is needed is an objective evaluation
of the case to see what is possible and not what is ideal.
This was the theme of my article on this topic in The
Hindustan Times, which was titled Acceptance of Reality.
The message remains the same – we must accept what is
possible as well as practical and not run after unrealistic
ideals.

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