Babri masjid dispute: Finding a solution, Islam and Politics

Islam and Politics

Babri masjid dispute: Finding a solution

Here We Go Ram Again

By Pratap Bhanu Mehta

Posted: Feb 09, 2009 at 1545 hrs IST

If Ayodhya is about religion, it is about religion in its most sordid sense. The Indian legal system has, for four decades, been unable to decisively lay the dispute to rest. In the process of adjudication and procrastination it has relied on so many legal non-sequitors that no one is sure what the grounds of any verdict are going to be. A political movement spearheaded by the BJP took the Ayodhya movement to new emotive heights, and often left its mark of violence on hundreds of innocent citizens. The Congress first opened up the issue to compensate for its own myopic interpretations of secularism and is still not sure where it stands. There is an assortment of groups, from the VHP to the Babri Masjid Action Committee, whose claims to represent their respective communities are, at best, dubious. Finally, there is the democratic voter at large. It is difficult to gauge the real depth of feeling on this issue, but one thing is clear: while a significant minority is passionate about building a Mandir, and a tiny minority passionate about stopping it, most are too fed up to care. "Let's get on with it," is probably the dominant political sentiment. With these protagonists can there be any real solution?

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