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Indian ruling party officials to be tried over 1992 Babri mosque demolition
Source: The Guardian
Indian ruling party officials to be tried over 1992 Babri mosque demolition
Court rules 13 senior BJP figures, including water minister and
a state governor, must face criminal conspiracy charges
Michael Safi in Delhi
Wednesday 19 April 2017 12.14 BST
Senior members of India’s ruling party, including a government minister, will be tried for their alleged involvement in the demolition of a 16th-century mosque 25 years ago, a flashpoint in modern Indian history that triggered religious riots in which nearly 2,000 people died.
The supreme court announced that 13 members of the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), among them the serving governor of Rajasthan, would face criminal conspiracy charges over the 1992 demolition of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya, in Uttar Pradesh.
The Mughal-era mosque was torn down in December that year by rightwing Hindu nationalists who claimed it stood on the site of the birthplace of Lord Ram, a revered Hindu deity, and a destroyed, millennium-old Hindu temple.
Campaigns to rebuild the Ram temple had simmered for decades but from the late 1980s became a major rallying point for the Hindutva movement, which argues that India’s culture and institutions should reflect the country’s essential Hindu nature, with less “appeasement” of religious minorities.
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Court rules 13 senior BJP figures, including water minister and
a state governor, must face criminal conspiracy charges
Michael Safi in Delhi
Wednesday 19 April 2017 12.14 BST
Senior members of India’s ruling party, including a government minister, will be tried for their alleged involvement in the demolition of a 16th-century mosque 25 years ago, a flashpoint in modern Indian history that triggered religious riots in which nearly 2,000 people died.
The supreme court announced that 13 members of the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), among them the serving governor of Rajasthan, would face criminal conspiracy charges over the 1992 demolition of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya, in Uttar Pradesh.
The Mughal-era mosque was torn down in December that year by rightwing Hindu nationalists who claimed it stood on the site of the birthplace of Lord Ram, a revered Hindu deity, and a destroyed, millennium-old Hindu temple.
Campaigns to rebuild the Ram temple had simmered for decades but from the late 1980s became a major rallying point for the Hindutva movement, which argues that India’s culture and institutions should reflect the country’s essential Hindu nature, with less “appeasement” of religious minorities.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/19/indian-minister-to-stand-trial-over-1992-babri-mosque-demolition
