On Monday (22 January 2024), the idol of Ram Lalla was consecrated in the Ram temple built in the religious city Ayodhya. Many attribute the success of this day to the Ram devotees who gave up their lives for the reclamation of the Ram Janmabhoomi, the struggle which began during the Mughal era and stretched for almost 500 years. In 1990, the Mulayam Singh-led government inflicted more brutalities on the devotees of Lord Ram than even the Mughal tyrant Babur.
The families of hundreds of such Karsevaks who braved the brutalities and contributed to the 500-year-long struggle to reclaim their sacred land were extended a special invitation to visit the Pran Pratistha ceremony.
While the world has been riveted by Ram Lalla’s homecoming, OpIndia focused on the untold tales of these hundreds of Karsevaks, who happily gave up their lives for the Ram Janmbhoomi movement. Today, however, we have tried to dispel a long-running lie being peddled by the Islamist-leftist media about this one particular ‘Karsevak’.
For years, several Islamists and the leftist-liberal ecosystem have been peddling a story around ‘Karsevak’ Balbir Singh, the person who reportedly made the first strike on the disputed Babri structure on December 6, 1992. These media outlets for years have reported how he suffered the worst bout of paranoia for his contribution towards the demolition of the Babri structure and seemingly converted to Islam and took up the name Mohammed Aamir.
While the OpIndia team was in Ayodhya, reporting from the ground, we dispelled this myth that has been propagated by Islamists, the leftist-liberal echelon and their friendly media for many years by looking through documents and speaking with witnesses.
What the Islamists and leftist-liberals have been claiming?
Many media organizations had published interviews of Balbir who converted to Islam and became Mohammad Aamir. In those videos, Balbir had described himself as a resident of Panipat, Haryana. He had claimed that he was a member of Shiv Sena, but Hindu organizations filled his mind with hatred against Muslims, due to which he later joined Bajrang Dal.
Balbir claimed that he was forcibly taken to Ayodhya on December 1, 1992. On December 6, 1992, he was the first to strike on the central dome of the disputed Babri structure. He also claimed that he was felicitated publicly after coming back from demolition, but his parents were furious at him. Balbir further claimed that after the demolition, he was paranoid with the fear that Muslims wouldn’t spare him for his act and to atone for Babri’s demolition and placate his family’s rage, he decided to convert to Islam and vowed to build 100 mosques across the country.
Around five years back, reports emerged wherein Balbir confirmed that he had contributed to the construction of ninety-two mosques. He further declared that he would soon complete the task of building the 100 mosques he had promised. Balbir Singh alias Mohammed Aamir went around claiming to be an ex-Karsevak after his conversion to Islam.
Balbir, during those days, became the eye candy of leftist media outlets. Media outlets like Aaj Tak also interviewed Balbir Singh aka Mohammed Aamir. Later it was reported that he left Haryana and started living in a rented house in Hafiz Baba Nagar in Hyderabad, Telangana. In the year 2021, reports emerged that Balbir Singh aka Mohammed Aamir passed away under mysterious circumstances.
Reports suggested that the local public informed police after a foul smell was emanating from his rented house in Baba Nagar, upon which a team from Kanchanbagh police reached his residence and found him dead.
Saints of Ayodhya called the reports a conspiracy
OpIndia during its visit to Ayodhya, interacted with several eyewitnesses of the Babri Masjid demolition on December 6, 1992. Speaking with us, Mahesh Das, the Mahant of Nayak Temple, which is situated in the Pramod neighbourhood of Ayodhya, called the reports “a bunch of lies.” He asserted himself to have witnessed the full December 6, 1992, Karseva incident.
Mahant Mahesh Das asserted that only a small number of people ascended the dome, although thousands of devotees were present there at the time of the incident. He said he remembered distinctly that Balbir alias Md Aamir, who claimed that he struck the Babri dome first, was not the one who did it.
Some other residents of Ayodhya, namely Hanumanth, Ajay Das, Raghuveer, Ashutosh, Meera, and Kapil also stated that they too are aware of what exactly transpired on December 6, 1992. All of them asserted to have never heard of any Balbir alias Mohammad Aamir, who was directly involved in the incident on December 6, 1992, outside of the media discourse. All of these people called the news that was going viral an illicit attempt to promote religious conversions, and they went on to demand that the government take tough measures against those who disseminated such false information.
Karsevak named in CBI’s FIR also called the news a rumour
To confirm the veracity of these reports, OpIndia looked for the Karsevak whose name was included in the FIR filed by the CBI in connection with the December 6, 1992 incident. On studying the FIR we got to know that Ramji Gupta, a resident of Tanda (now Ambedkar Nagar district), which is close to Ayodhya district, was the first person arrested in the incident on December 6, 1992. OpIndia got in touch with Ramji Gupta, who too confirmed that no one by the name of Balbir was amongst the Karsevaks who demolished the Babri dome. He said that he knew all those Karsevaks who were involved in the demolition by their name and face and Balbir Singh was not amongst them.
Vowing to be an eyewitness to every single moment, Ramji Gupta said that no Karsevak can ever convert to Islam and this particular news that Balbir Singh was the first to strike the Babri dome and that he later converted to Islam was nothing but a devious and well-thought-out conspiracy.
‘I was near the dome, not Balbir’: Karsevak busting media lies about Balbir Singh
We further spoke with a Muzaffarnagar resident named Ambrish Goyal. Goyal had participated in the December 6, 1992, Kar Seva. He said that several groups from all across the country had come at that time and that he knew most of the Karsevaks who came from western Uttar Pradesh and the surrounding areas.
Ambrish said that he had seen the picture of Balbir Singh alias Mohammad Aamir on social media. He declared his complete confidence that the individual claiming to be the one who had first struck the Babri Dome was not even in the vicinity of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, let alone being involved in the demolition. Ambrish Goyal described these reports as an attempt to defame the Karsevaks and vowed to file a complaint against those spreading the malicious news with the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath.
OpIndia spoke to the National President of Rashtriya Hindu Dal, Roshan Pandey, who recently made headlines after he sent a letter to Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav informing that they will install a statue of his father and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav in the mosque which will be constructed in Dhannipur, Ayodhya. Pandey said, “I have carefully studied all the government documents and court proceedings related to the demolition of the disputed structure. There is no mention of any Balbir from Haryana even in a single place in any of the documents.”
Further recalling the day the dispute Babri structure was demolished, Roshan Pandey added that those who were not even involved in the demolition but were only present there, their names were also added as accused by the then Congress government, why then Balbir Singh’s name was not even mentioned in the FIR?
Explaining the rationale behind his name not being there in the FIR, Pandey added that Balbir Singh alias Mohammed Aamir, who himself appeared before the media and spoke about being the first to strike the Babbri dome and then spoke about converting to Islam to atone for the Babri demolition, was not named in the FIR because obviously, he was not even present there at the time of the demolition.
He said that media organizations should desist from propagating such conspiracies against Hindus.
If he was such a big devotee of Ram then why did he not come in 1990?
Shubham Hindu, a resident of Etah and national president of an organization called Hindu Ekta Group, spoke to OpIndia on this matter. Shubham said the news that Balbir Singh converted to Islam to atone for the Babri demolition was completely bogus and just a figment of the mind of some conspirators.
Shubham questioned the media outlets that featured Balbair’s interview, and said, “If Balbir was such a devoted follower of Ram, why didn’t he reach Ayodhya to do Kar Seva in 1990 when the Mulayam Singh Yadav led government order to open fire at the kar sevaks.”
Shubham Hindu said that he intends to expose the conspirators who spread false information by writing a letter to the government. Shubham also wants an investigation to be conducted as to how much damage the conspirators have caused to the Hindu society by making such false news viral.
एक ग़मनाक खबर, मुहम्मद आमिर (बलबीर सिंह) इतंकाल कर गये, इन्ना लिल्लाहि व इन्ना इलैयहि राजिऊन
— Imran Ghazi (@ImranGhaziIND) July 22, 2021
बाबरी मस्जिद की शहादत में पहला कुदाल चलाने वालों में मुहम्मद आमिर भी शामिल थे उस समय वो बलवीर सिंह थे उसके बाद पश्चाताप की आग में जलते हुए मुसलमान बन गये… pic.twitter.com/lWjfrwgwLu
Islamic scholar Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui accused of running India’s ‘biggest religious conversion syndicate’ was Balbir alias Mohammed Aamir’s mentor
In the interview, Balbir Singh asserted that after meeting Islamic scholar Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui who has been accused of running India’s ‘biggest religious conversion syndicate’, he was radically drawn towards Islam. Balbir said that after staying in Kaleem Siddiqui’s madarsa for some days, he converted to Islam.
Meanwhile, a report by Jansatta also said that Balbir went to Deoband to assassinate Kaleem Siddiqui after the disputed Babri structure was demolished, but he later changed his mind. However, Jansatta had not revealed the time of this incident.
Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui, who is one of the biggest clerics from western UP, was arrested on charges of religious conversions by the state’s anti-terrorist squad in 2021. According to Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist, Kaleem Siddiqui was running India’s ‘biggest religious conversion syndicate’, and had been pushing several people into conversion since 2016. In fact, his criminal network was found to be spread to Mumbai and Gujarat. He has been in jail for a long time and the UP ATS is still collecting evidence against him.
Balbir Singh kept changing his statement
Media houses like Jansatta asserted that Balbir had gone to assassinate Maulana Kalim Siddiqui and had changed his mind there. However, in an interview, Balbir stated that fear had taken hold of him following the demolition of Babri and that he had gone to Kaleem Siddiqui to obtain an amulet that would protect him from the fear. Even though he was sick of seeing so many specialists and commentators, his worry persisted.
Balbir was heard claiming in a video interview that went viral at the time that he had heard about Kaleem Siddiqui from someone else and that, after a lot of imploring, he got the chance to meet Kaleem Siddiqui, who indoctrinated him and assisted him in converting to Islam. In a matter of days, Balbir became the media’s poster boy. Balbir was sent to Hyderabad, where he took up the management of Deeni Idara, an Islamic education centre. It was here that Balbir was married to a Muslim girl.
बलवीर सिंह उर्फ मोहम्मद आमिर!!
— 🌴 الشـــــیخ 🌴 (@Abdal__Abdullah) November 27, 2018
अल्लाह बाबरी मस्जिद गिराने वालों
से ही उसकी हिफ़ाज़त करा रहा है…!
फ़बिअय्यि आला ए रब्बिकु मातुकज़्ज़िबान…
https://t.co/8swXpbu5fE
In July 2021, Balbir passed away under mysterious circumstances. This death happened while the Uttar Pradesh ATS was hard at work gathering proof against Kaleem Siddiqui. In September of 2021, Kaleem was taken into custody. With his arrest, the UP ATS busted his nationwide conversion racket, in which most of the victims were from the Hindu community.
Balbir was not a Shiv Sainik, will send legal notice
Institutions like Lallantop had claimed that the converted Balbir was a Shiv Sainik. To confirm these claims, OpIndia spoke to Haryana state youth Shiv Sena chief Rituraj. Rituraj clearly termed the news of Balbir being a Shiv Sainik as complete nonsense. Rituraj said that such news was spread as part of a deep conspiracy to tarnish the image of the organisation.
Rituraj said, “We’re proud that many Shiv Sainiks actively contributed to the destruction of the structure, which was a stigma, drawing inspiration from Bala Saheb Thackeray. However, it’s unacceptable that a conspiracy was hatched to damage our reputation by labelling individuals like Balbir as Shiv Sainiks. Individuals such as Balbir have never belonged to the Shiv Sena and neither do they now nor will they in the future.”
Bajrang Dal mulling to file an FIR to expose the conspiracy
Lalit Bhati, the leader of the Bajrang Dal state students in Haryana, also spoke to OpIndia about this entire issue. Lalit Bhati informed us that he had also learned about these stories from various media outlets and social media. He said that he had gathered information from his sources and he was absolutely sure that Balbir Singh was never a Karsevak.
Lalit asserted, “After the demolition of the disputed structure, Muslim groups hatched a big conspiracy and made a person named Balbir their pawn. Balbir became their easy prey because he belonged to a family that was loyal to the Nehru-Gandhi family. He was linked to Babri, which he most likely never even visited.
Lalit Bhati claimed that by using Balbir as a scapegoat, the conspirators intended to promote Islamisation and aid in the fundraising efforts for the building of mosques. Since Lalit thinks that a conspiracy of this kind cannot continue, he said he would bring this up at the organization’s meeting and expose the issue by filing a formal complaint.
