Advani: Undertook a countrywide tour and provoked religious riots in 1992.

Young Indians today tend to be more interested in economic rather than emotional issues.

THURSDAY was the 20th anniversary of the demolition of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. Yet, hardly anyone seemed to have noticed.

The nation that had once erupted in strong atavistic passions, resulting in widespread violence and mob frenzy between rival religious groups – one wanting to erect a temple to the Hindu god, Lord Rama, at the site, and the other keen to maintain the status quo – clearly did not want to revisit that bloody period in its recent history.

Both sides apparently found no percentage in reviving a sterile issue that is incapable of yielding much political capital for either party.

For, in essence, the old dispute over the status of the Babri Mosque, built in 1528 by a general of the Mughal emperor Babur, gained traction only when the pro-Hindu right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) embraced it in the mid-1980s. Its leader, L. K. Advani, undertook a nationwide Rath Yatra, a motorised chariot, to whip up support for a temple to Lord Rama to be built at exactly the same spot where the disputed mosque had stood in Ayodhya. His case was that Babur’s general had built the mosque after demolishing a temple sited on the very spot where Lord Rama was born.

Advani’s countrywide tour had aroused popular passions, provoking religious riots in its wake.

The Ram temple campaign was helped by the ambivalence of the self-avowed secular Congress Party.

In 1949, someone had surreptitiously planted an idol of Lord Rama in the mosque and it was not removed. Instead, authorities locked the mosque and the matter was remitted to the lower courts. And that was where it had remained until the Hindu groups revived the movement for constructing a Ram temple on the site in the late 1980s.

Since the Advani campaign had elicited widespread popular support, the federal government led at the time by the late Rajiv Gandhi chose to appease the Hindus. In a controversial move, it opened the locks of the disputed structure in the mid-1980s. A few years later, it allowed a religious ceremony to be conducted there for the erection of a Ram temple. This angered Muslims while Hindus remained dissatisfied with the Gandhi-led Congress for not handing over outright the site for the proposed Ram temple.

Once the Hindu mobs, which had gathered in Ayodhya on Dec 6, 1992, pulled down the mosque, widespread rioting occurred, leaving the largest minority community sullen and insecure.

Nearly 2,000 people were killed in the violent riots but to this day, no significant leader on either side of the religious divide has been convicted, though court proceedings are still dragging on in a number of cases.

Happily, 20 years later, both communities are keen to put behind the cataclysmic events. Two years ago, the Allahabad High Court awarded two-thirds of the disputed land to Hindus and the remaining one-third to Muslims. Both sides remained unhappy, however, and the matter has since been pending in the Supreme Court where an early judgment is unlikely.

Nor is anyone anxious for an early verdict. In the intervening two decades, the country seems to have moved on. In fact, India has changed drastically. For one, its economy has grown over six times, from US$293bil (RM892bil) in 1992 to US$1.8 trillion (RM5.5 trillion) in 2012.

Additionally, the growth of the mass media, be it the regional press or the plethora of private television channels, has had a salutary effect on ‘secularising’ people in general.

More significant is the demographic transformation that has taken place since the demolition. Nearly 60% of the population is now below the age of 35 and more interested in economic rather than emotional issues.

Concerns relating to matters such as education, employment, and housing would engage young people now more than a desire to right the alleged wrongs of history. Most are no longer obsessed by a perceived hurt to Hindus by the Mughal invaders in the 16th century as they aspire for a better life for themselves and their children.

Having said that, it would be wrong to assume that a closure has been made to the mosque-temple dispute. For that to happen, the answer does not lie with the courts but with the religious leaders of the two communities. Unless they rise above their narrow and ossified positions to find a lasting solution in a spirit of goodwill and mutual accommodation, the Ayodhya dispute could well be revived to whip up passions in the future.

For Ram and Rahim to coexist in peace and harmony in Ayodhya, it is important to find a solution to the country’s oldest and most stubborn masjid-mandir dispute.

Some well-meaning people have suggested the construction of a hospital or an educational institution on the site but it is unacceptable to both sides. Politicians are loath to endorse such a solution because of the vote-bank politics. While the BJP openly roots for a temple, the secular groups are reluctant to counter it fearing a backlash from the majority community.

The result is that the Ayodhya cinder is smouldering unseen in some corner. Yet, on the 20th anniversary of the Babri demolition, the Ayodhya dispute remained on the national back burner, which was a good thing, indeed.

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