Mixing politics and religion

JUBAIL, SAUDI ARABIA: When all of a sudden Hindu extremist organisations press ahead with a 300km or so long march to demand the construction of the Ram Mandir, then you do not really need to be a rocket scientist to figure out why such a march is being undertaken at this point in time. General elections in India will be held in a few months’ time. The Uttar Pradesh government has already arrested hundreds of workers of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and its leaders in a bid to discourage the march, which is expected to generate heat that may lead to tensions between Hindus and Muslims.

Obviously such a campaign has nothing to do with religion but with politics. The VHP and other extremist outfits will try their best to entangle Muslims in this conflict; the more blood is spilt during this march, the more voters it will attract towards the Ram Mandir cause.

Do Muslims need to be trapped in this net? Indian Muslims should move on beyond the Babri Masjid and the Ram Mandir conflict. This masjid-mandir land-ownership issue is already with the Indian Supreme Court, therefore, they should let the law take its course on the matter. But if on one side, the VHP, the RSS and the BJP are trying their best to extract some meat out of this conflict, then their counterpart Muslim extremist organisations will attempt their best to keep Muslims engaged on this front, too; both sides will be using religion to fulfill political goals. One may presume that better sense will prevail and the Uttar Pradesh government will not give the BJP the opportunity to gain votes at the expense of a worsening law and order situation in the state. One awaits the time when Narendra Modi will also join the march to reinforce the link between politics and religion — a dangerous mixture, which always results in destruction.

Masood Khan

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28^th, 2013.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.