Ayodhya to Allahabad

2 October 2010

The very fact that life is normal throughout the length and breath of India after the Allahabad High Court’s long-due verdict on the Ayodhya dispute is most encouraging.

This goes on to prove that the secular entity of one billion plus inhabitants has learnt to live with history. Notwithstanding the details and implications of the verdict, which says that the land where the Babri Masjid stood must be divided between Hindus and Muslims, the realisation on the part of stakeholders to keep pursuing a legal remedy for their historical-cum-ideological interpretations is genuine leadership. Coupled with this, the call from political parties and religious groups to maintain peace and an appeal to their cadres not to take to the streets have made the real difference. This journey of resilience, reconsideration and rapprochement from the year 1992 to 2010 is a telling tale of living in harmony even in adversity. This spirit of the Indian nation is highly appreciated.

At the same time, the court’s wisdom to put an end to more than 60 years of religious standoff with an amicable ruling is unprecedented. The three-way split of Ayodhya land, as ordained by the court, has gone a long-way in cooling the pestering rage over the controversial and contested real estate. The court’s farsightedness in proclaiming a 90-day moratorium on any actions in dividing the land, as per the verdict, will also help offset communal tension over an issue that had kept successive governments since the 1992’s demolition of Babri mosque on the tenterhooks. Though stakeholders have vowed to move the appellate forums, the fact that the Allahabad High Court’s three-member bench has so successfully interpreted the sensitivities involved in the 8,000 plus pages will always be taken as a valued reference and cited as a precedent. It is no less than a new legal chapter of national reconciliation whereby supporters of building a temple on the disputed site as well as those who want to preserve the remains of the Mughal-era mosque will cohabit and coexist for reasons of political and social exigencies.

One of the most promising signs of the verdict is that it doesn’t condone the act of demolition — an aspect that has to a great extent taken heat out of the issue. It has come as a great consolation for the Muslim community, irrespective of the ire that the Sunni Waqf Board members may nurse against the decision. This will go a long way in healing the wounds of communal hatred that the current history from Ayodhya to Gujarat had inadvertently set in Indian politics. Similarly, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s stance that it looks forward to a new era of inter-community relations is heartening. This new calm and considerateness, from either party have been in wanting and one hopes they serve the purpose of oneness in good faith - Editorial - Khaleej Times, Dubai - Saturday, 02.10.2010

I share the views expressed in the above Editorial - Prathap G., Sharjah.