The government of India must preserve its calm in the face of mounting religious tensions arising from the destroyed mosque at Ayodhya. The horrific slaying of over 50 Hindu activists returning by train from the city was in no way justified by any provocative behavior that may have taken place when the train passed through the town of Godhra in the western state of Gujarat. The crime was the latest chapter in the tragic drama that began with the destruction of the 16th-century Babri Mosque at Ayodhya in 1992, which sparked off the worst intercommunal violence in the subcontinent since the partition in 1947. It brought about more than 3,000 deaths. Now the pattern may be about to repeat itself. Already the train tragedy has brought retaliatory killings against Muslim communities.
The irony is that the man who is now India’s premier, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and his BJP party are in large measure responsible for the whole Ayodhya tragedy. Since independence, Indian politics had been dominated by the Congress party. Only relatively briefly before 1996 did any other party manage to wrest the reins of government from the hands of the Congress party. The BJP, however, turned to the Hindu community as a way in which to build itself a power base to rival the Congress. Its strategists decided that the only way to mobilize Hindu voters was to pander to extreme opinions. No issue could have done that job better than the Babri Mosque at Ayodhya, which Hindu extremists claimed was built on the site of an ancient Hindu temple. The BJP had a direct role in creating unrest over the mosque and in unleashing crazed supporters past inadequate security forces, to demolish the building.
It was not just an act of great sacrilege, but it was a deed calculated to strike at the very heart of the rich and varied tapestry of Indian society. Four years later when the Congress party suffered its worst-ever electoral defeat, the BJP emerged as the largest single party and since 1998 Vajpayee has led a coalition government. In the early days of their electoral success, there can be little doubt that the BJP leaders congratulated themselves on the effectiveness of their strategy.
Now, however, the very high long-term price of that short-term gain is becoming apparent. The Ayodhya issue will not go away. Hindu fundamentalists want to build their temple. Muslims want the mosque rebuilt. Doing nothing, which seemed to be the easiest option in the early days of the BJP administration, has turned out to be no option at all. Leaders of the extremist Vishwa Hindu Parishad, whose influence over the BJP has been crucial, have vowed to start building their temple in just over two weeks’ time.
As recent state elections demonstrate, BJP support is waning. Part of that lost support may be from extremists whose enthusiasm was whipped up by inflammatory BJP invective, only to be disappointed when the party faced up to the tough realities of government. These are extremely dangerous times. It will give no satisfaction to those who oppose the BJP that they are reaping the whirlwind that they themselves sowed.
The real danger is to India. In the greater scheme of things, individual political parties or politicians do not matter. Those who climb on the back of a tiger can rarely get off in one piece.
