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`Sangh' historians flay `secular' counterparts

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI SEPT. 13. Pro-temple historians today trained their guns on Marxist and "secular" historians for refusing to accept the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) report on the recent Ayodhya excavation. Accusing the "secular historians", particularly Aligarh Muslim University's Irfan Habib, of fishing in troubled waters, the "Sangh" historians said, "Their cheap propaganda based on false history and bogus archaeology cannot be taken as sound history."

Pleased by what the excavation brought up, the historians, who participated in a discussion here on `Ayodhya Ki Khudai Ka Sach' (The Truth of the Excavation at Ayodhya), said the ASI report had corroborated "all the archaeological, art historical and epigraphical evidence found earlier by A.K. Narain, B.B. Lal, S.P. Gupta, K. Srivastava, Sudha Mallaiya and others".Also, according to the chairman of the Indian Archaeological Society, S.P. Gupta, the excavation had proved beyond doubt that the 20-line Sanskrit inscription — found in the debris of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992 — was, indeed, the clinching evidence needed to prove that a Ram temple existed on the very ground where the mosque stood.

Dr. Gupta said the "secular" historians were questioning the findings because those arguing that the Babri Masjid was not built on Ramjanmabhoomi would be left with no case unless the report of the excavation was negated and the ASI discredited.Speaking in a similar vein at the discussion organised by Image India Foundation, the former ASI Director-General, Jagpati Joshi, questioned the basis of the "secular" historians' contention that the Babri Masjid was built over a mosque. "I have seen many mosques over a temple, but never seen a mosque being built over another. Also, it is not correct to state that glazed ware is only associated with Muslim sites." The former ASI Joint Director-General, K.N. Dikshit, said truth must prevail.

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