Today is a day of reckoning. How will India react once the Allahabad
high court starts pronouncing judgment in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri
Masjid title suit at 3.30pm today?
“India has moved on, especially the people who were born after 1992
have a different world view,” Union home minister P Chidambaram said. “I
don’t foresee any trouble.”
But the government is not taking any
chances. The premises of the court’s Lucknow bench have been barricaded,
and paramilitary forces deployed in cities, including Mumbai,
considered sensitive.
Chidambaram invoked Mahatma Gandhi, quoting him, “Ishwar Allah tero naam, sabko sanmati de Bhagwan
(Ishwar, Allah are your names God, give good sense to all, Almighty)”,
and appealing to all to cooperate with the government to uphold the
values dear to the country.
He said the main political parties
have reposed their faith in the due process of law. “Many other
organisations connected with the dispute have also affirmed that they
would respect the judgment of the court and seek to advance their cause,
if so advised, only in accordance with law.
“Many common citizens
have also spoken and written in favour of a judicial resolution to the
dispute. All these are helpful signs that peace and harmony will
prevail.”
