Ayodhya: The Aftermath of the Terrorist Attack

The terrorist attack in Ayodhya, which had the potential of igniting passions, has already become part of history. Life inside Ayodhya - Faizabad has again limped back to normalcy. Today, apart from the extra units of security personnel, which have been brought in to supposedly provide extra security, no change is visible in the ambience.

Of course barring some fanatic elements it has always been the case that, ordinary local people, to whichever faith they belonged to, have tried to maintain harmonious relations with each other. It has been reported umpteen times how the ‘sanjhi sanskriti’ ( common culture) has evolved at the grassroot level since centuries with a intermingling of cultures and close interpenetration of economies.

Interestingly while the ordinary people have heaved a sigh of relief, the triumvirate of the VHP-BJP-RSS has not taken very kindly to these developments. Much on the lines of the arrest of Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati they had dreams that they would be able to cash in on the ‘anger’ of the people. But nothing of that sort came out. Tired of emotive issues which affect their own lives and feeling cheated at the hands of these self-proclaimed upholders of Hindutva, people just did not care when the saffron brigade gave a call for agitation over insult to ‘Hindu identity.’ Excepting the few BJP ruled states one noticed only few symbolic actions elsewhere.

Considering the fact that people at large were losing their interest in this issue which would prove to be a death knell to their own brand of politics of ‘othering’ they tried in vain all sorts of ways to foment fresh bout of tension. And ranging from the likes of Lal Krishna Advani to the local level leaders of the VHP, everybody tried all sorts of ways to create fresh wedge between the communities. While Mr Advani, who himself is an accused in the Babri Mosque demolition case, tried once again to commit himself to the ‘unfinished task’ of temple building and appealed to the religious minorities to be sensitive towards the feelings of the Hindus, others from his ilk were more direct. In the public meeting held in Ayodhya itself they had tried to demonize the whole Muslim community and asked for their eviction from the periphery of the acquired land in Ayodhya.

Ramvilas Vedanti, a VHP leader from Ayodhya who received enough bytes the day the terrorist attack occurred had spewed venom , ‘Muslims should be shifted from the adjoining areas and the localities acquired in Ayodhya. There will be no guarantee of security of the Ram Lalla till they are not shifted.” Acharya Giriraj Kishore, the vice president of the VHP categorically made the same demand in his New Delhi press conference. And now comes the news that on 9 th August a group of sadhus and activists of an outfit stormed the graveyard to dig the graves of the five militants killed in the recent attack. They demanded that the graves be shifted from within the Chaudah Kosi Parikrama area of the temple town.

Of course it was not for the first time that attempts had been made by the Hindutva goons to target all Muslims with impunity. It was only last year that they had launched an agitation against the state government’s plan to provide houses to poor Muslims living in Bacchara Sultanpur Mohalla in Faizabad, which is around two kilometers from Ayodhya. Their contention was that they would not let the government construct an ‘I.S.I. Camp’ near this sensitive area and if at all it is to be done then it should be done outside the ‘holy borders’ of the city.

As things stand today it is being reported that the much dreaded Lashkar-e-Toiba was behind this attack. The law and order people seem to be patting themselves on their backs for apprehending the terrorists involved in the attack in record time. But some questions refuse to die. Why the utter silence over the deliberate attempts by the Hindutva brigade to spread communal disharmony in the aftermath of the attack? It is clear even to a layperson that despite delivering hate-speeches which is a cognizable offence neither the Vedantis nor the Kishores nor the Uma Bharatis were even sent summons to explain their conduct. Of course as far as the basic provisions of the law are concerned they are quite clear. Under the various provisions of the Indian law (Section 153 A, 153 B,, 298, 505 etc ) promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion is a recognized criminal offence for which they could be punished with three years of imprisonment.

Everybody knows that it is not a question of legal provisions. It is basically a question of political will to show whether one really is concerned about the acute sense of deprivation and insecurity which pervades Muslim community in India in general and Uttar Pradesh in particular. The recent findings of the Prime Minister’s high level committee rather further corroborate this. A member of this committee shared his findings after a three day sitting in Lucknow “ Muslims felt they were treated like second grade citizens and their condition, at times, was worse than other deprived sections, with accusations of the police and PAC being prejudiced when it came to Muslims.”

Is not it time that serious attempts are made to rectify the situation ! May be Uttar Pradesh a harbinger of change in this direction.