Time - Man of the Year/Time_Man_of_the_Year_Compact_Publishing_3YX-Disc-1_Compact_Publishing_1993.iso/moy/122192/12219933.000

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                                                                                INDIA, Page 47

The Unholy War


Militant Hindus demolish an ancient mosque -- and threaten to
tear down democracy in the process

By MICHAEL S. SERRILL -- Reported by Jefferson Penberthy and
Anita Pratap/Ayodhya


    In a plume of dust, the central dome of an ancient Muslim
mosque in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh collapsed under the
blows of 4,000 Hindu fanatics last week -- and shook the
subcontinent to its foundations. Like the three domes that
crowned the 464-year-old Babri mosque, the three pillars of the
modern Indian state -- democracy, secularism and the rule of law
-- are now at risk from the fury of religious nationalism.

    After a week of violence, the thousands of kar sevaks, or
Hindu holy workers, who destroyed the Muslim shrine in the
belief that it covered the birthplace of the Hindu god Rama,
have been driven off. Army and police units have restored a
semblance of order after Muslim-Hindu rioting left more than
1,100 dead and 4,000 injured. The government has banned three
Hindu and two Muslim organizations and arrested the leaders of
the major opposition party.

    Yet Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao will have to do much
more to heal the deep tear left in India's political fabric.
What was challenged at the mosque was not merely a Muslim
presence on a piece of ground held sacred by two religions, but
the notion that India, a Third World superpower, can remain what
its 20th century founders intended it to be: a tolerant, secular
state of many ethnic identities, religions and languages.

    The great majority of India's 700 million Hindus were
repelled by the violence of the fanatics. But the Ayodhya riot
ignited forces that lie just under the surface of the vast
multicultural state. Indian democracy has survived by balancing
the interests of many groups, particularly those of the Hindus
and the Muslims, now 110 million strong, who stayed behind when
India was partitioned in 1947. But militancy on one side breeds
it on the other. In the wake of the Babri mosque's destruction,
Syed Ahmed Bukhari, a Muslim religious leader, vowed to lead a
mass march of his own to the site to rebuild the shrine. Said
he: "The country is heading toward civil war."

    Hindu nationalists have been fighting over the 16th
century mosque since 1855. In recent years, the cause was taken
up by the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has used anti-Muslim
feelings to advance its political fortunes. By attacking the
supposed privileges of the Muslim community and taking up the
struggle over the mosque, the party won 88 seats in the lower
house of Parliament in 1989.

    In October 1990, party leader L.K. Advani escalated his
campaign: he led a 6,200-mile procession across India in support
of the movement to build the Rama temple. Lethal riots followed,
but the extremist spasm had its desired effect. In 1991 the
Bharatiya Janata Party won four state governments and 119 seats
in the lower house, which made it the official opposition to
Rao's ruling Congress Party.

    The Bharatiya Janata Party bears most of the blame for
last week's calamity. But Rao also shares some responsibility.
He believed repeated assurances from Advani that the mosque
would not be damaged. The Prime Minister, a wily parliamentary
veteran whose preferred tactics are delay, discussion and
compromise, underestimated the ruthlessness of the militants.
By the time a screaming mob attacked the mosque with pickaxes,
rods and bare hands, no party or government authority seemed
able or willing to stop it.

    Once the damage was done, Rao tried to respond. He vowed
that he would rebuild the mosque, dismissed the state
government and imposed direct rule on Uttar Pradesh. Advani was
arrested and charged with fomenting communal violence. He
protested that he had tried to prevent the kar sevaks from
tearing apart the mosque, and issued a statement accepting
"moral responsibility." But others argued that the assault on
the shrine might never have happened had Rao's central
government taken earlier and more decisive action.

    India has absorbed great shocks before, and some analysts
insist that it will rebound from this spasm. Others see a
nation-threatening danger that has to be addressed by firm
government action. Rao took a first step by calling for creation
of a mass movement to defend secularism. His critics argue that
he must go further by barring all parties from using religious
issues to gain votes -- a stricture that is probably
unenforceable.

    The most immediate problem is to defuse the Ayodhya issue.
Any attempt to dismantle the makeshift shrine at the site would
be a dangerous provocation. One proposal is that the newly
erected monument to Rama should remain while the government pays
to build a Hindu temple and a Muslim mosque on either side of
it.

    The Bharatiya Janata Party, however, has not changed its
ways. The party is planning to whip up Hindu fervor by holding
nationwide rallies and protests against the arrest of its
leaders. The party has also warned that Rao's vow to reconstruct
the mosque would provoke "a confrontation of unimaginable
proportions." Muslim leaders are sure to call
counterdemonstrations that could unleash more bloodshed.

    The nation will probably be convulsed for some time to
come. If that span is to be shortened, Rao must provide forceful
leadership -- and express it in a way that keeps the Hindu
majority away from the banners of hatred and sectarianism. What
India needs is a quick revival of the ideals of its founding
Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and its spiritual leader,
Mahatma Gandhi. After last week's carnage, that seems a
difficult task indeed.