Author: Stephen Farrell
Publication: The Times of India
Date: December 18, 2000
Caption for the picture: Anand Mawli,
left, a pilgrim who walked 750 miles to Ayodhya awaits dedication of the
temple
MASONS assembling the stonework
for India's most controversial Hindu temple in Ayodhya near a demolished
mosque have been ordered to finish their work by March 31.
Hindu groups want to build a temple
where the mosque stood, claiming it as the birthplace of the Hindu god
Ram. The secularists fear stirring up passions aroused by the demolition,
which sparked off the worst Hindu-Muslim riots since partition in 1947,
with more than 3,000 killed.
The deadline to workshops will put
further pressure on Atal Behari Vajpayee, the Prime Minister, whose Hindu
nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is accused of inciting the Hindu
mobs who tore down the 16th-century Babri Masjid eight years ago.
Mr Vajpayee survived criticism over
his handling of the issue on the anniversary in Parliament last week, but
Muslims accuse the BJP of reigniting religious passions to win votes. His
party emerged on the wave of Hindutva - Hinduness - associated with the
demolition. Since it came to power the Prime Minister has been juggling
the competing demands of extremist Hindu organisations on his party's religious
wing, and its moderate coalition parties.
Passions erupt on each anniversary
but this year is different. In three weeks more than ten million people
will gather at the confluence of two sacred rivers in Uttar Pradesh for
the Kumbh Mela, a Hindu festival celebrated every 12 years.
There a gathering of sadhus - Hindu
holy men - will decide the date on which building of the Ram temple should
start. While the politicians argue, preparations for the Hindu temple are
going ahead in Ayodhya.
Almost daily trucks arrive in the
town's two dedicated Ram temple workshops bearing tons of Rajasthan's finest
rosy sandstone to be carved to designs by the architect of the Swaminarayan
temple in Neasden, North London. Here workmen squat on semi-finished pillars
chiselling images of Ganesh, Hanuman and full-breasted goddesses, all under
the careful eye of the the World Hindu Council.
Officials make no effort to hide
the preparations, showing where 21 foundation stones lie finished, grooved
and numbered waiting only for the order to start assembly.
Even as foremen told how their 50
craftsmen have already finished 60 per cent of the work - including 106
of the 212 ornately carved pillars required - a giant crane bearing "Victory
for Ram" slogans swung another chunk of pink across to a circular saw.
The focus of the passions, the spot
where the Babri Masjid stood, is now a hillock on which sits a white marquee
containing a temporary shrine to Ram. Here cameras and pens are banned
and visitors forced to undergo three separate body searches, metal detectors,
closed-circuit cameras and a walk through half a mile of caged metal walkway.
Muhammad Yunus Siddiqi, local chairman
of the Babri Masjid Action Committee, feared "great tension" among the
area's 12 per cent Muslim population. "They will try to build a temple
and we will resist at any cost. The Prime Minister tells us to go elsewhere
to build a mosque. They should go elsewhere."
The strength of Hindu feelings,
however, was epitomised by Anand Mawli, an 89-year-old nomad who walked
750 miles from Maharashtra to Ayodhya. "There will be violence. I will
sacrifice myself to ensure that this temple happens in my lifetime."
