Assault on Babri Masjid

The open assault on the Babri Masjid is more than an attack on the religious sensibilities of any particular group of Indians. It marks nothing less than an attempt to establish that might is right and to give a group of political organisations the monopoly over the heritage of Hinduism and exclusive power over the future of India. Unless this attempt is decisively repudiated, the great commitment to sustain a diverse and democratic nation will itself be in peril. It is distressing for Indians to see the scale on which communalist sentiments are sinking roots across such a vast cross-section of Indian society.