Beyond either-or views, many want temple at Ayodhya but don’t want to hurt mosque | The Indian Express

Beyond either-or views, many want temple at Ayodhya but don’t want to hurt mosque | The Indian Express

Written by Rajni Bakshi |Updated: November 7, 2019 9:43:41 am

Beyond either-or views, many want temple at Ayodhya but don’t want to hurt mosque

A quarter century later, it is futile to hope that the Supreme Court verdict on Ayodhya, whatever it might be, will somehow mark a closure. Healing the social fabric is far more important.

As a member of campaigns for communal harmony, in the early 1990s, I failed to grasp this distinction. I did see everyone who wanted a Ram temple “on that spot” as a threat to India’s plural ethos and particularly as anti-Muslim.

Dharamveer Bharati, the legendary writer-editor, once had a conversation in the shadow of the Babri Masjid which needs to be retold. At the time of Bharti’s visit to Ayodhya, the Ram temple movement was already in full swing. One attempt to demolish the structure had already been made.