By IANS,
Ayodhya: With most markets open, people going about their daily life and work, and muted activity by some Hindu and Muslim groups, it was only the heavy presence of policemen on the roads in the temple town of Ayodhya that hinted Monday was the 18th anniversary of the Babri Mosque’s demolition.
While many residents termed the normalcy – the first time in 18 years – as an impact of the Sep 30 verdict of the Allahabad High Court in the case, a more common refrain was that of total apathy and indifference towards the issue.
“The Ayodhya temple issue is virtually dead now,” observed V.N.Arora, professor in the town’s only post-graduate college.
It was business as usual in both Ayodhya as well as its twin city of Faizabad, 8 km away. Unlike in the preceding years since 1992 when the 16th century mosque was brought down by mobs of fanatic Hindus, no political or religious leader was in the town.
Even the annual ritual of the “Shaurya Diwas” (Bravery Day) by some Hindus and “Black Day” by Muslims was a subdued, lacklustre affair this year. Both sides did come up with their respective alibi for their low-profile shows.
“We never asked any big leader to participate in this year’s shaurya Diwas ‘yagya’ that was limited only to a a handful of local sadhus,” said local Vishwa Hindi Parishad (VHP) spokesman Sharad Sharma. “Today’s ‘yagya’ was led by Swami Ram Vilas Vedanti, who apart from being a prominent VHP leader, is a former MP,” he added.
Babri Masjid Action Committee (BMAC) convenor Yunus Siddiqui said that they too did not call any one from outside this time “as we wanted to confine ourselves to our office where we have put up a black flag”.
The only other place where a black flag was displayed was a tiny mosque at Beniganj on the threshold of Ayodhya.
Unlike in the past, when Muslim shopkeepers chose to keep their shutters down as a mark of protest against the demolition, a bulk of these remained open Monday.
“What is the point in shutting our shop now when the high court has already given its verdict, against which an appeal has already been made before the apex court?” asked Bashir, a tailor.
The normalcy was welcomed by local businessmen.
Krishna Kumar, who runs a restaurant down the town’s main street, looked happy at the brisk business he did Monday. “Never in the past 18 years did I have such sales on Dec 6 as today,” he said.
Ashish Kumar Yadav, who sells ‘namkeen’ (salted tidbits) out of a hand cart not very far from the entrance to the makeshift Ram temple, was equally thrilled with the number of customers because many devotees were visiting the temple on this day. “Very few people would visit the temple Dec 6, but that was not the case this time. It is good for me,” he said.
Meanwhile, the 90-year-old Mohammad Hashim Ansari, the primary Muslim litigant in the title suit case, was as high-spirited as he was 61 years ago when he moved the local court seeking right to offer ‘namaz’ in the mosque after it was allegedly forcibly occupied by Hindus.
His only regret was failure of his efforts to bring the dispute to an end through an out-of-court settlement after the high court verdict Sep 30. The court ordered trifurcation of the land, apportioning one-third to the Ram Lalla deity, one-third to a Hindu sect and one-third to the Sunni Wakf Board.
“I was all for closing the chapter once and for all and several prominent Hindus of Ayodhya were also agreeable to sitting across the table to resolve the issue instead of taking the battle to the Supreme Court, but some people did not seem to like the idea,” he lamented.