The Ayodhya Complex: the SaffronTaliban

The surge of violence stemming from the Danish cartoon, the eruption of Shiite-Sunni violence in Iraq, to the wary consideration of a Dubai-based port company to handle American seaports... seems to be fueling a new "Islamophobia" across the world...

A Qatari based newspaper called Al-Raya quotes an Egyptian reformist intellectual saying that India's democracy proves that Muslims will not resort to terrorism if they are involved in a nation's political processes:

"What can we conclude from these facts? The obvious conclusion is that inside every individual on the face of the earth there is a political being… If this being finds overt, legitimate, and effective channels by which it can carry out the natural actions of any political being, it will not look for underground political activities."

The story goes on to say that for those very reason's no attack has ever been on the scale of 9/11 in India. Furthermore, the story cites Abdul Kalam (current Indian president) and Manmohan Singh (current Indian Prime Minister) as representative of minorities in India which Muslims make up 11% and Sikh's make up 2% of the total population.

The story makes an interesting case... amongst a nation of that is majority Hindu, and a 250 million large Muslim population, India for a secular nation has for the most part proved as a benchmark for other democractic nations... barring Jammu and Kashmir, that the government is sensitive to Muslim needs.

The problem with the story is this: people also tend to forget that this so-called 'peace' was a result of many years of struggle against a majority Hindu population. The very birth of the nation resulted in almost 200 thousand to 1 million dead on both sides. At a toll of many lives, Muslims in India had a hard time maintaining their status in India. Also at the same time, the situation in India is very very relative in comparison to all Islamic societies.

Samarra's mosque destruction of one of the holy sites in the Shiite sect of the Muslim religion, errily parallels a similar event that happened in India. Ayodhya, in the North Central state of Uttar Pradesh in India, was considered to be the birthplace of Lord Rama and thus one of the holiest sites of the Hindu religion. During 9th century Muslim invasions of India many centuries prior to the British arriving, Hindu temples were destructed many replaced by mosques. Ayodhya also fell, and was replaced by Babri Masjid in 1528.

In 1992, almost 450 years after the mosque was erected, almost 200 thousand Hindu nationalists converged on Babri Masjid and razed the mosque to the ground. The violence that soon ensued, made way for some of the worst sectarian violence ever witnessed by India since the asassination of Indira Gandhi. Riots that stemmed over the destruction of the masjid lasted for 3 months - creating a huge rift between Muslim and Hindus. Over a thousand people died, mostly Muslims and later led to the March 1993 Bombay bombing - the largest coordinated bombing attack in India leaving - over 200 dead. To say that it was not on the scale of 9/11 - pretty dumb.

Even with archeological evidence being disputed on both the Hindu and Muslim side that Ayodhya ever existed, the Ayodhya complex has been a critical issue in assessing Hindu and Muslim relations. For VHP (Vishva Hindu Parishad - off-shoot of RSS or Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh - like an Indian equivalent to the KKK), Shiv Sena (Army of Shiva), and BJP - Ayodhya for the most part was viewed as a political scheme, a plan to solidfy support for critical elections by arousing support from the 80% Hindu faithful majority.

Has anything really gotten better? Not really... the organizations such as VHP, Shiv Sena and RSS are still active in India. Bal Thackeray, head of the Shiv Sena, was even arrested, sent to trial, and then freed in 45 minutes - for his role in spearheading and feeding the fire of the riots in Mumbai. Even after being released, Thackeray publicly stated that the government was a "puppet" in his hands.

The RSS in recent years still calls for a unified "Hindustan", using 2004 census data as evidence that "Hindus are under threat" by the growing Muslim population:

As if on cue, the RSS-led Sangh Parivar today rushed in to seize upon the latest Census data on religion as "vindication" of it claim that Hindus in India were "under threat" from a rising Muslim popluation

The RSS using the data in its own scheme to fuel a rising "Islamophobia" post 9/11.

India was struck again by another wave of riots when an alledged mob of Muslims set fire to a train in the town of Godhra carrying 59 Sevaks who were transporting stone to the Ayodhya site. The riots that ensued again killed 2,000 Muslims across the state of Gujarat. The government of Gujarat was blamed for stepping aside while Muslims were ravaged in what was called a mediated genocide of Muslims. Gang-rapes of Muslim women were also reported. Investigations are still going on.

India as a model of Muslim relationships living peacefully under democracy? Hardly... And if anything else - no Muslim really ever did resort to terrorism in the first place - they were subject to alot of it, even for political reasons. India is still young and fresh as a democracy: only 59 years old since declaring independence. Since then it has gone through the trials and tribulations of many other nations have, but it is very difficult to say that it is a "model" for democracy just yet at this age. The nation still has alot of growing up to do.

The scary thing is that many of these parties have such a huge political base in India, forming coalitions and representing a majority Hindu population. It is like a fully politically -mobilized KKK with actual voice of influence on the majority. This leaves the secularity of India's identity as a huge question.

The shortfalls of the Indian democracy are apparent. With Iraq and the recent destruction with the mosque, this maybe the first real demonstration of the actual depth of Shiite and Sunni relationships. The scale of the attack will definitely alter relationships between the two sects for years to come. But as a "democracy", Iraq is definitely still in an 'infantile' stage - one has to fall many times before they start to walk....India certainly demonstrates that.

Resources for Ayodhya and Godhra:

Ayodhya Issue Homepage

Coalition Against Genocide

Indian Muslim Council-USA: Views and Analysis of Godhra

Indian Express: Godhra Full Coverage

BBC News: Q&A - The Ayodhya Dispute