NEW DELHI (PTI): The continued state of construction activity at the disputed Ram Janambhoomi-Babri mosque complex at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh state of north India ignoring the Supreme Court and high courts directives to stop construction activity has prompted the national press to voice concern over the issue on July 21.
The Hindu” says “Ayodhya is a tinder box likely to explode any minute.”
The Right Wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state has made it abundantly clear from its Janus-faced actions’ last weekend that it does not intend to let that tinder box remain unignited it feels.
The daily also regrets the manner in which the court directives have not been implemented concretely.
Such a state of affairs is dangerous it says adding it is “not just because of the very real threat of fresh communal carnage but because it will sharply erode the faith of the minorities in the judicial process and this country’s commitment to the rule of law.”
Hence the daily concludes “India’s brave experiment in secular democracy will be in deep peril.”
The “Times of India” says since the nature of Ayodhya dispute is quintessentially political its solution too must be sought largely if not exclusively within a political framework.
The courts and the administrative machinery can facilitate the search for a peaceful settlement but they cannot be a substitute for a political action it asserts.
The outcome of the meeting of the national integration council in the capital on Saturday leaves no room for doubt that the BJPVHP combine is in no mood for a compromise.
Unless the Center and the BJPVHP combine are able either singly or together to devise a stratagem which would halt the construction of the temple the congress is bound to witness severe convulsions in its ranks even as the country heads for a chaos and violence” the daily warns.
The Times describes the communal riots in southern state of Kerala and Maharashtra in western India as precursors to this situation
The economic times also feels that the need of the hour its effective governance and a determination to make the rule of law a live reality.
“But the wholesale lack of respect for the law first on the part of politicians and now on the part of vocal groups is not flexibility but a drift into chaos and mob rule” it says.
The daily feels “this is no way to run a country.” All the dailies are unanimous in their view that the ruling Narasimha Rao government should act firmly and prove to this country that it is committed to the defence of the national interest.”
Article extracted from this publication >> July 31, 1992
