Indian ruling set to reignite religious strife

Indian ruling set to reignite religious strife

Douglas E. Curran, AFP Files
Hindu youths clamber atop the 16th-century Babri Masjid mosque on the day it was demolished by mobs in 1992.

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Twitter LinkedIn Digg Buzz Email Peter Goodspeed, National Post · Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2010

After 60 years of litigation, religious riots and mass murder, one of India's most contentious cases may be resolved today.

India's Supreme Court is set to decide whether to release a decision by the Allahabad High Court in Uttar Pradesh in a 60-year-old lawsuit over who owns the land under the 16th-century Babri Masjid mosque that was destroyed by Hindu extremists in 1992.

Many Hindus believe the mosque was built on the site of the birthplace of the Hindu god, Ram, a legendary king of Ayodhya and the seventh avatar of the god Vishnu.

After decades of legal delays and political interventions in the ownership dispute, a mob of Hindu extremists took matters into their own hands 18 years ago, storming the contested site and ripping the three-domed Babri Masjid apart.

The assault unleashed months of violence in which more than 2,000 people died as India experienced some of its worst religious riots since partition.

The assault became a rallying cry for Islamic fundamentalists, who clashed with Hindu extremists in major cities across India. For weeks, gangs of youths, armed with iron bars, rusty swords, knives and homemade firebombs, rampaged through Hindu and Muslim neighbourhoods.

Cars and trucks were stopped and burnt, and the bodies of their drivers were thrown onto the burning wrecks.

In Mumbai, Hindu gangs stopped men in the street and forced them to strip to check if they were circumcised Muslims before murdering them.

Some victims had their tongues cut out, while others were forced to watch as relatives were beaten to death.

The trauma of the event transformed Indian politics, fuelling the Hindu nationalism that finally brought the Bharatiya Janata Party (Hindu Nationalist Party or BJP) to power in 1998, sowing a deep sense of distrust and alienation among India's 160 million Muslims.

Now, as the courts are finally poised to settle the case, tensions are building again.

Thousands of troops have been rushed to Ayodhya, a small town of 50,000 people, 550 kilometres east of New Delhi. The government has banned sending bulk text messages on cellphone until after the release of the court's decision and politicians have taken out full-page newspaper ads pleading for calm.

A television broadcasting organization has asked India's

TV stations to refrain from broadcasting film footage of the 1992 mosque destruction. On the weekend, Bollywood film studios delayed the release of several major movies to avoid being swept up in the controversy.

Uttar Pradesh has 40,000 security police in Ayodhya, while New Delhi dispatched another 5,200 and cancelled all trips by cabinet ministers until the court's decision is known.

Another 32 "communally sensitive cities" across India, including Mumbai, which has designated some schools as emergency prisons, have been placed on a high security alert.

The Ayodhya court case, with its potential for re-igniting religious hatreds, could not come at a worse time for India, as the country is preparing to host the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, starting on Sunday.

The Allahabad High Court was prepared to release its judgment last Friday after dismissing a final appeal by an applicant who wanted to delay the case for security considerations.

Ramesh Chandra Tripathi, a retired bureaucrat, argued the government was not prepared to deal with the potential fallout from the Ayodhya case as its security forces are already tied down combating unrest in Kashmir and protecting the Commonwealth Games.

The High Court dismissed the claim, saying it simply aimed at "creating an obstruction" in the final disposal of the case.

Then, at the last minute on Thursday, the Supreme Court stepped in and said it would review that decision and decide today whether or not it is safe to go ahead and release the judgment.

Hindu and Muslim groups have pledged to respect the law when the decision is made known.

Still, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council, VHP) has been holding prayer services to Hanuman, the monkey god and eternal friend of Lord Ram, in more than 7,000 Hindu temples across India.

Whoever loses the case is expected to appeal to the Supreme Court, where a final decision could still be years away.

After the lawsuit, which marshalled more than 6,000 witnesses, stagnated for 40 years in district court and lingered for another 20 years in the High Court, both sides just want a decision.

They are afraid any further delay might completely derail the lawsuit, since one of the three judges on the High Court panel that heard the Ayodhya case is set to retire on Oct. 1.

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