NEW DELHI, 18 October 2003 — Hindu fanatics were thwarted in their attempt to take a pledge to build a temple on the ruins of the Babri Mosque yesterday.
Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to break up a mob of stone-throwing Hindu activists in the northern Indian town of Ayodhya.
“We had to fire rubber bullets and tear gas shells after they started throwing stones,” inspector-general of police V. N. Rai said. There were no reports of casualties or further trouble.
Elsewhere in the tense town, hundreds of slogan-shouting activists led by Ashok Singhal, chief of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, or VHP that organized the rally, were detained. “We have come to Ayodhya, we will build the temple here only,” shouted groups of young activists wearing saffron bandanas, as police led them away.
The VHP is an ally of India’s ruling Hindu fundamentalist Bharatiya Janata Party and the renewed temple campaign comes ahead of elections in five states from next month, seen as a test for the BJP before national elections next year.
A Hindu mob tore down the 16th century Babri Mosque on the disputed site in December 1992, triggering some of India’s worst religious violence, in which about 3,000 people, mostly Muslims, died.
Tens of thousands of police have been deployed across sensitive northern states, spurred by fears the call for a rally in Ayodhya could spark trouble elsewhere.
There were no reports of trouble, but VHP officials in the financial hub of Bombay said they planned peaceful demonstrations over the weekend to protest against yesterday’s police action. Ayodhya has been largely sealed off to keep activists out. Shops were shuttered and many streets deserted.
The tiny Muslim quarter was largely deserted, with many families sending their women and children away for safety.
“People are scared, they have shifted their families to safer places,” said local politician Haji Mehmood.
The main opposition Congress said the VHP was trying to whip up passions to help the BJP win the forthcoming elections in heartland states. The BJP shot into prominence on the back of a Hindu revivalist program in the 1980s, but has been forced to put divisive issues on hold by its secular coalition partners.
— Additional input from Reuters
