030401

Court keeps ban on Hindu prayers in Ayodhya

NEW DELHI: India's Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea by the Hindu nationalist-led government to lift a ban on Hindu prayers near the site of a razed mosque in the northern town of Ayodhya.

It said the ban was needed "to maintain communal harmony".

The ruling was expected to hamper efforts by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to focus attention on Ayodhya in the run-up to national elections next year. The BJP has traditionally won votes by backing Hindu claims to the disputed site.

The Supreme Court said its ban must remain in place until a lower court ruled on the future of the site.

Ayodhya has been a flashpoint for Hindu-Muslim tensions in India since a Hindu mob tore down a 16th-century mosque there in 1992, triggering nationwide riots in which some 3,000 people died.

Hindu fundamentalists say the mosque was built on top of a Hindu temple and want to build a new temple on the site.

Ayodhya, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, is revered by Hindus as the birthplace of the Hindu god-king Ram and already has dozens of temples, drawing thousands of pilgrims every year.

After a legal battle had dragged on for decades in the Allahabad High Court -- the state's top court -- the BJP launched a campaign in the 1980s to build a new temple, culminating in the razing of the mosque and the party's rise to national prominence. The Allahabad High Court this month allowed archaeologists to begin excavations in Ayodhya to search for any remains of a Hindu temple and has begun daily hearings to speed up a property dispute which has dragged on for half a century.

The opposition Congress party accuses the ruling BJP of using the Ayodhya dispute to split the vote down Hindu-Muslim faultlines. Muslims make up 12 percent of the population.

"WIN FOR SECULARISM"

The government's appeal to the Supreme Court was rejected by a five-judge bench headed by Judge S. Rajendra Babu. "On consideration of the entire matter, we are of the view that the order made by this court on March 13, 2002, should be operational till the Allahabad High Court disposes of the original matter and to maintain communal harmony," it said.

Muslims welcomed the Supreme Court decision.

"It is a win for secularism. It's a victory for people who believe in justice," said Mohammad Aslam, a New Delhi shopkeeper who had filed a petition in 2002 asking for a ban on all religious activity at the site.

The BJP declined comment on the ruling. But BJP spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that "the BJP is of the view that this problem should be resolved immediately".

With crucial state elections due this year and national elections due in 2004, some analysts say the BJP could try to whip up Hindu-Muslim tensions to polarise the vote and rally the Hindu majority.

The BJP won a landslide victory in western Gujarat state last year after campaigning on a hardline Hindu platform following religious riots in which at least 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed.-Reuters