From: t60bss9@mp.cs.niu.edu (Bijoy Sagar)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: India Today Editorial : Ayodhya- Nation's shame
Date: 8 Jan 1993 18:24:06 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

This is the editorial from India Today's special edition dated
Dec 31, 1992. Aroon Purie, the editor is very rational IMHO.
This was typed in by Uma Ramamurthy and I thank her for the permission
to post it here. Do not flame us for the opinions expressed, these are not 
necessarily our views.

Happy reading 

-Bijoy

AYODHYA - NATION'S SHAME
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
" There come moments in history when a nation's soul is seared. For India,
that moment came on the afternoon of December 6 when the Babri Masjid-Ram
Janmabhoomi-disputed structure, call it what you will, was demolished. It
exposed the fragile face of India's secular democracy. The true character
of a person is often unveiled in times of crisis. So it is with countries.
This one tragic event has revealed the shocking state of Indian society. It
has held out a mirror to all of us, and all the world has looked on. The
reflection is an ugly one. A society so hollow that a mockery is made of the 
highest court of the land, a government so weak that it cannot enforce the 
rule of law, and a social fabric so tenuous that it soaks itself in blood
at the slightest provocation.
  India has almost every ill in the world - hunger, poverty, disease, casteism,
communalism. But it has always prided itself, quite justifiably, as the world's
largest democracy and a secular on at that. Today that has been put in doubt.
And that is the real shame.
  It is a shame because the largest opposition party of the country thought
nothing of reducing this country to a mobocracy by encouraging its followers
to take the law into their own hands. It knew very well the catastrophic 
consequences of such an act. It is a shame that a political party which
acquired its legitimacy from the ballot box should so callously violate
basic democratic tenets to achieve its objectives - the tenets of negotiation
not force, the rule of law not of the jungle. The foundations of any civilised
society. It is a shame too that the Government did not have the courage to
enforce the law of the land.
  At the moment this is the fundamental issue, not the fact that the structure
was a mosque or a temple. That has to be decided within the democratic 
framework of the courts, Parliament and the Government. The BJP has been
trying to cloud the issue by arguing that many temples were destroyed in
Kashmir and nobody but they raised a voice, so why all this fuss about
the destruction of one defunct mosque? On the face of it, a persuasive
argument. But, of course, they forget to mention that the destruction of
those temples were acts of terrorism, perpetrated by those who live outside
the law. Is that what the largest opposition party wants to equate itself
with?
  There is little doubt that with 110 million Muslims and many other smaller
minorities, India can survive as a country only as a secular democracy.
Otherwise we are doomed to go the tragic way of Lebanon and Yugoslavia,
multiplied a thousand times.
  Last week, we in the media got an unsavoury taste of the future if these
self-proclaimed warriors of Hinduism were ever to rule. They thought it fit
to threaten, intimidate, incarcerate and brutally beat the press into 
submission. Although they were attempting to rewrite history, they did not
want their misdeeds to be recorded for posterity. The jackboot of fascism
shows scant respect for the pillars of democracy and therefore the crushing
of the press in Ayodhya was quite in character. It showed the sinister
underbelly of the so-called religious movement.
  It is a matter of great concern that the radical fringes of every 
community, because they make the loudest noise and attract the maximum
attention, falsely create the impression of representing the silent
majority. While this majority, who by and large are more interested
in peaceful coexistence and in improving the quality of their lives
than in killing fellow citizens, become the unfortunate victims of
extremism. This tolerant majority must find peaceful ways of making
their voice heard above those of power-hungry leaders who play with
our lives. I, for one, am hopeful because I believe that there is a kind
of inevitable justice in this world. History has shown that evil carries
its own seeds of destruction. Brave men and women who stand against these
forces of bigotry can hasten this day of justice. In my opinion, the
religious fanaticism which has reared its head today will be defeated by
the innate common sense and decency of our people. " 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


******************************************************************
| BIJOY SAGAR,               *|* ALL DISCLAIMERS APPLY.          |
| Dept. of Geology, Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, IL60115|
| Internet : t60bss9@mp.cs.niu.edu OR bijoy@geol.niu.edu         |
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^