Word: ayodhya
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THEY CALLED IT KAR SEVA (HOLY WORK), BUT THE consequences were devilish. To the sounds of conch shells and clashing cymbals, a mob of Hindu fanatics wielding pickaxes, crowbars and bare hands descended upon the Babri mosque in the northern town of Ayodhya and razed it. Never mind that the Supreme Court of India, eager to preserve the nation as a secular state in which all religions are respected, had ordered that the mosque be left alone. The existence of the mosque, built by a nobleman of a Mughal Emperor in 1528 on the spot where the Hindu god Rama...
...B.J.P. has shaped Hedgewar's thoughts into a political juggernaut. Central to their political success is the promotion of Rama, the warrior god of the Hindu Ramayana epic, and a dilapidated 16th century mosque in the north Indian town of Ayodhya. The B.J.P. claims the site marks Rama's birthplace but that Mogul rulers destroyed a Hindu temple there and built a mosque in its place. There is no conclusive evidence of that claim, but as a point of Hindu self-esteem, the B.J.P. demands that the mosque be moved and a huge temple to Rama built on the spot...
...B.J.P. uses the Ayodhya issue to stir Hindu anger, but Advani is always careful to stress that he does not advocate violence against Muslims or harsh treatment of any minorities if the B.J.P. comes to power. What the B.J.P. advocates officially seems mild -- an end to Muslim personal law in civil matters and restrictions on religious schools for all minorities. But in practice, B.J.P. workers are full of hatred for Muslims and regularly provoke violent confrontations. Says Qari Moinuddin, a Muslim politician in Jaipur: "They meet you on the street and say, 'Long Live Rama...
Singh's government fell after only 11 months when issues of caste and religion erupted into violence over rival Hindu-Muslim claims to the site of a mosque at Ayodhya. Winning the support of less than half of the 140 Janata Dal members, Chandrashekhar will be dependent upon the opposition Congress (I) Party and its allies...
...crisis and the same divisive issues that brought down Singh. Chandrashekhar will somehow have to cool down tempers raised by Singh's plan to set aside government jobs for lower castes, but he will not find it any easier to settle the future of the disputed holy site at Ayodhya...