Word: ayodhya
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...path back to power. To be sure, being part of the governing coalition had a restraining effect on the more extremist elements in the Hindu nationalist movement over the past six years, who may now feel a greater freedom to pursue communal confrontations over issues such as Ayodhya, where Hindu nationalists a decade ago destroyed a mosque, and have tried ever since to build a Hindu temple atop its remains. And also in Gujarat, scene of protracted communal bloodshed two years ago. With Congress in power and the BJP looking to make a comeback, it's a safe bet that...
...Krishna Advani is known as a Hindu hard-liner, he now preaches about India's economic vibrancy, not religious nationalism?a reflection of how his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has moved away from the politics of hate. Still, Advani reverted to type at an election rally this month in Ayodhya, where Hindu zealots had torn down a Muslim mosque in 1992 and demanded the restoration of what they said was once a temple to the Hindu god Ram. "We will build a Ram temple at Ayodhya," Advani declared at the rally. "India will be Ram's kingdom once more." TIME...
...TIME: Why bring up Ayodhya again...
...ADVANI: That's true. Our success comes down to our ability to set the agenda of national debate. At different points in time, we choose different agendas. In the 1970s, it was corruption. In the 1980s and 1990s, Ayodhya; we utilized it to have a debate about what was genuine secularism and how there was a different civil law for Muslims [from the one for] Hindus. Now the focus is on economic development...
...office eight years ago, some Indians wondered if it marked the end of their country as a tolerant, secular, democratic nation. After all, the BJP had come to power on the back of a violent and emotive campaign to destroy the Babri mosque at the sacred Hindu site of Ayodhya, so bringing religion into the very heart of politics. Moreover, the BJP was allied to many extreme Hindu-fundamentalist groups. Indeed, it was founded as the political associate of a neofascist paramilitary organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh...