MANGALURU: KK Muhammed, former regional director of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), who was part of the first excavation team at Babri Masjid, said his desire to see India united and as a great country was an underlying principle behind his coming out in the open to tell the truth about the excavation.
“We (Hindus and Muslims) have been fighting often. We want India to become a great country. That was the underlying principle behind me coming out in the open to tell the truth,” said Muhammed who had drawn flak from his own community for his revelations about the excavation.
He was speaking at the Mangaluru Lit Fest here on Friday. He said many archaeologists had no courage to speak the truth about the excavation but as a Muslim he had double responsibility to speak the truth. He felt that Muslims missed a great opportunity of willingly handing over the controversial land for the temple construction.
“It (controversial land) is important for Hindus like Mecca and Madina is for Muslims. If it was associated with Prophet Mohammed or any of the four caliphs, I too would have stood with them. It's simply a mosque. Realising the gravity of issue, they should have willingly handed it over. They missed a great opportunity,” he said.
Further, he said Indian Muslims should adopt Ram and Seeta as national heroes. He said Hinduism is a very tolerant religion, which is the need of the hour.
“India is secular even after partition because Hindus are in majority. If Muslims were in majority, India would not have remained a secular country,” he said.
‘India needed to be called Bharat in Constitution’
Historian and researcher Dr Chidananda Murthy said that the Indian Constitution made a big mistake by calling the country India and not Bharat, as the latter gives a sense of belongingness to its citizens. He was speaking on the theme ‘The idea of Bharat’.
He said it is because of India’s foundation built on tolerance, that the countrymen did not invade another country to spread Hinduism through violence. He thanked the Centre and the state for scraping article 370.