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| Monday, 21 July 2003 |
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Hindu ruling party demands Ayodhya temple site RAIPUR, India, Sunday (Reuters) India's ruling Hindu nationalists called on the coalition government to give the go-ahead for the building of a controversial Hindu temple on a site holy to Hindus and Muslims. A Hindu-Muslim dispute at the site in 1992 triggered riots across India in which more than 3,000 people were killed. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national executive, with an eye on looming state and federal elections, passed a resolution urging the government to bring in a law to allow Hindu groups to build the temple in the northern city of Ayodhya. A law would bypass the courts which have been considering the issue for decades. Ayodhya symbolises the often bloody divisions between India's Hindu majority and minority Muslims and is one of the country's most emotional and controversial disputes. In 1992, Hindu militants destroyed a 16th century mosque in Ayodhya on the site of what they say is the Hindu god Ram's birthplace, triggering communal riots that killed more than 3,000 people across the country. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, considered a moderate leader in the BJP, reiterated his support for the temple but called on the party's hardline members to stop putting pressure on the government over the issue. "It would be good to construct a temple (on the disputed site). But the dispute should be resolved harmoniously through negotiations," Vajpayee told the executive after it adopted the resolution. The prime minister did not make any mention of passing a law allowing construction of a temple but said the government would not sideline the BJP's extremist Hindu affiliates. "But we should not trade charges. Needless allegations will only vitiate the atmosphere," Vajpayee said. The BJP won power on the back of a Hindu revivalist campaign, including support for a temple in Ayodhya, but coalition rule with secular parties has meant it could not push the temple issue forward. But the party's stand has angered its Hindu allies, hardliners within the BJP and many of its core supporters and Ayodhya is expected to become a key issue ahead of the elections. The BJP could only pass a law to approve the temple's construction and bypass the courts with the support of its coalition partners, which is unlikely. |
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