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India's Religious Flashpoint
February 28, 2002
Source: CNN
The rising sectarian tension in the Indian town of Ayodhya in the northern
state of Uttar Pradesh has a history dating back more than 400 years.
In 1528 a mosque was built on the site where some Hindus say Lord Rama,
one of the most revered deities in Hinduism, was born. Centuries later,
Hindus are pushing for a new temple to be built at the site where activists
razed the 16th century mosque a decade ago.
The demolition of the Babri Mosque in 1992 by supporters of the hardline
Vishwa Hindu Parishad party (VHP or World Hindu Council), and then-opposition
Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), sparked nationwide religious
riots in which 3,000 people died. The lead-up to its destruction was marked
by more than a century of rising Muslim-Hindu tensions about the temple.
In 1859 the then British colonial administration annexed the mosque because
of growing religious tensions at the site, creating within it separate
Muslim and Hindu places of worship. In 1949 the gates were locked after
these boundaries were violated, Muslims claiming Hindu worshippers had
placed deities of Lord Rama within their designated area.
A campaign to build a temple at the mosque site, to honor the birthplace
of Lord Rama, was launched in 1984 when the VHP set up a committee, lead
by the then BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani (now home minister). The campaign
ramped up in 1989 with the laying of foundations on land adjacent to the
disputed mosque.
Three years later tensions exploded when an angry mob of Hindus stormed
the mosque and demolished it. Muslims, who make up more than 10 percent
of India's one billion people, want the mosque rebuilt. The promise to
build a temple on the site was a key plank of the BJP's platform as it
rode a strong Hindu revivalist movement from obscurity in the1980s to
political center-stage.
But Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has been forced by coalition
allies to drop support for the temple and has called on all sides to allow
the law to solve the issue. The dispute has dragged on for years in the
Indian courts and any activity at the site has been banned.
Successive governments have said they are committed to upholding the
court's orders. The VHP says the construction of a temple is a matter
of conscience. They say they will ignore any court decision against them
and have vowed to push ahead with their deadline of March 15 to begin
construction.
Tensions rising
Over the past few days an estimated 15,000 followers have taken up the
call to travel to Ayodhya to put pressure on the government to allow construction
of the temple. Several thousand security personnel have been put on alert
around the site, and tensions have risen dramatically.
In the latest incident, more than 50 people died when a train carrying
Hindu activists returning to Gujarat from Ayodhya was set alight. Vajpayee
has publicly appealed to Hindu activists to call off their campaign, repeating
that the courts must be allowed to make their ruling on the case. For
their part the VHP says it is sticking to its deadline but has pledged
that their campaign to get the temple built will be carried out peacefully.
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