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Trigger to religious strife

by Lynn Ockersz

Twin bomb blasts in India's financial hub of Bombay recently, which claimed more than fifty lives, horrifically illustrate, once again, the mainly communal and religion-driven nature of the politics of the subcontinent.

An Indian woman adjusts a black bandanna over her mouth while others look on during a peace march in Bombay, August 27, 2003. Thousands of Indians in black, marched through Bombay on Wednesday in a silent protest against this week’s twin car bombings that killed 51 people. No one has claimed responsibility for the bombings, but the state government has said they were in revenge for Hindu-Muslim clashes in neighboring Gujarat state last year that killed at least 1,000 people, most of them Muslims. REUTERS

The fact that the blasts occurred in locations in Bombay which are predominantly populated by Gujaraties has led to speculation that these were retaliatory strikes against last year's communal carnage in Gujarat which witnessed the killing of over 2000 persons. Besides, the blasts come in the wake of emerging archaeological evidence that the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, which was razed to the ground by fanatical mobs in 1993 was built on the ruins of a Hindu temple. The Ayodhya mosque issue, has, of course, been a principal bone of contention in the communal politics of India and has kept blazing the flames of religious intolerance and enmity.

The recent bloodbath in Bombay, could, therefore, be expected to plunge to a new low, already strained Hindu-Moslem relations and make the spectre of religious strife loom large over India.

Allegations by some of India's top politicians that Pakistani intelligence agencies are behind the blasts, besides stoking the flames of inter-religious hostility could have a damaging impact on Indo-Pakistani relations which are just showing signs of improving. However, incidents in Kashmir at the time of Indian Premier Atal Behari Vajpayee's recent visit to Srinagar, which claimed several lives, could have the same dampening effect on Indo-Pakistani relations.

It is all too obvious, then, that the forces of communal disharmony in India and those which flourish on the basis of religious intolerance and hostility are getting their act together once again.

The end result could be a new round of fierce Hindu-Moslem friction which could bring to the forefront of subcontinental politics, the purveyors of religious and ethnic intolerance and hatred.

As mentioned on previous occasions by us, Indian Premier Atal Behari Vajpayee has done well to keep the forces of religious intolerance in check over the Ayodhya mosque issue. His position, essentially, has been that a compromise solution should be found to the problem.

This position needs to be consistently maintained by all sections of the Indian government, if religious friction is to be kept within containable limits. For, major political backing has proved an effective fillip to continued religious and ethnic strife in this part of the world, including Sri Lanka.

Besides, the clock could be taken back several centuries if official recognition is extended to the hardline position that a Hindu temple needs to be rebuilt on the Ayodhya mosque site in view of what seems to be emerging evidence that a Hindu temple really existed at the site, prior to the building of the mosque.

A move in this direction would seriously undermine India's secular credentials and have a shattering impact on the principle of religious and cultural equality.

The future cannot be based on mythical narratives which imply the superiority of one cultural group over the other. It is essential that democracy thrives on the basis of equality of all ethnic and cultural groups. This applies to the whole of South Asia.

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