It's time for other reconciliation-Oct 15, 2010,

It's time for other reconciliation

TNN, Oct 15, 2010, 12.06am IST


It seems like India has moved on, is the general consensus. We have seen no violence either before or after the Ayodhya verdict and truth be told, the various prescriptions by different stakeholders to maintain peace have seemed a little unnecessary given the general lack of interest in the subject today.

The surprising high court verdict has created a sense of possibilities in an issue where it seemed that nothing new was imaginable. Of course, the matter is being appealed and we are back to the court again, so materially nothing has changed on the ground. Has India really moved on? It is easy to say so when it comes to Ayodhya, for as an issue it has moved well beyond its glory days. Nobody has been agitating for a verdict and not many would shed tears if the Supreme Court takes another 18 years to deliver its final verdict. But the distrust between those whose espouse the secular view and those who do not is a deep and growing one and one in which mutual abuse has replaced dialogue as the preferred mode of interaction.


The secular anxiety about those who carry the Hindutva banner, in whatever form, is easy to understand. Both Babri Masjid and Gujarat are good reasons why this should be the case. One has only to scroll down to the comments section of any article on the internet that espouses the secular cause and see the amount of rabid abuse that this worldview attracts.


It is difficult to treat this kind of a diatribe as part of any rational discourse, but not everyone on that side of the fence holds such extreme views and tarring anyone who believes that there is a case on the Hindu side with a single brush is a bit extreme. In any case, the implicit certainty that the liberals have in their own belief system too stands on shaky ground.