RZealots of diverse faiths: Ayodhya's 16th century fires
The Straits Times, Asia News Network, Singapore
Last Thursday marked the ninth anniversary of the razing of the 16th-century Babri mosque by Hindu zealots in the northern Indian town of Ayodhya. More than 2,000 people died in the communal riots that followed across the country in 1992. Strict law-enforcement measures prevented violence from breaking out last week on the anniversary of the destruction, although both Houses of the Indian parliament were suspended on Thursday because of divisions over the issue.
That division reflects sentiments in the country at large. Hindu nationalist leaders, who claim that the mosque was built by Mughal rulers after demolishing a Hindu temple, believe that the site is the birthplace of the god, Ram. The uneasy calm over the issue is the result of a Supreme Court ruling that bars, wisely, any construction at the site until the dispute is resolved.
However, Hindu groups have been campaigning for a temple to be built at the spot where the mosque stood, and hardliners have warned that they will begin building the temple if the dispute is not resolved by early March. Their stance flies in the face of demands by several Muslim leaders that the mosque be reconstructed at the site.
How the issue is resolved depends purely on Indians themselves. However, it is difficult not to view the razing of the mosque as part of a wider process in which religious extremism has vitiated national life and corroded traditions of tolerance and goodwill that enabled different communities to co- exist for hundreds of years. The most spectacular display of that corrosion in recent times has occurred in Afghanistan.
The destruction of the Buddha statues by the Taliban revealed a degree of fanaticism, of pathological hatred towards other faiths, that should not have had a place in the civilized world. In an article published earlier this year, Amin Saikal, a Muslim from Afghanistan, and Ramesh Thakur, a Hindu from India, minced no words.
"The world has watched the destruction of Afghanistan's Buddha statues with impotent horror," the scholars wrote. "Among the outraged spectators is the Bharatiya Janata Party government of India. The party's ideological extremists destroyed the 400-year- old mosque in Ayodhya in December 1992. One wonders if they see the parallel." They make an important point.
No matter which faith fanatics associate themselves with, the victim is ultimately the trust which humans invest in religion as a vehicle on the road to eternity.
That is why the road from Ayodhya -- the path that leads India away from one of the most ignominious moments of its independent history -- is important. The ideals of religious harmony cherished by leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru have played a crucial role in Indian national life.
Notwithstanding serious breakdowns, as when communal riots occurred, those ideals made India a beacon of tolerance in a world wracked by religious and sectarian conflict. Post-Ayodhya, it is necessary for India to find its way back to the road on which those leaders had set it.
As a rising Asian power, it has an essential contribution to make to the regional and global effort against fanaticism and intolerance. One of the key sources of the uncertainty which the world is facing is the shape which religious fervor will take. If the shape is benign, the world will be a better place. If it is jagged, the wounds will be deep. India can make an important difference. It should.