Saraswati Invoked in Religious-Political Dispute

[Guest guest]

>From yesterday's MSN newswire, an interesting story by Sugita Katyal

of Reuters:

 

DHAR, India, Nov. 19 — It's just a dot on the map, but the dusty

town of Dhar has the one ingredient that can stir up communal

passions in India -- a centuries-old monument that Hindus say is a

temple and Muslims consider a mosque.

 

So, as campaigning for elections next month in the central state of

Madhya Pradesh heats up, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata

Party has revived a campaign to install an idol of the Hindu

goddess, Saraswati, in the disputed monument.

 

"I challenge the chief minister to bring back the idol from a London

museum and install it in the Bhojshala," Narendra Modi, the

firebrand chief of the riot-hit neighbouring state of Gujarat, told

a rally in Dhar.

 

"Otherwise, we promise we will bring back the idol and install it,"

he thundered outside the heavily-guarded 14th century stone shrine

as hundreds of Hindus queued up with marigold flowers and rice to

pray to the goddess of learning.

 

Madhya Pradesh is one of four states going to the polls on December

1, all of them ruled by the main national opposition Congress party.

 

The BJP, which leads the central coalition government, is hoping to

wrest control of these states to consolidate its power base ahead of

national elections due by next October.

 

Its campaign has focused on development issues, like the need for

good roads and electricity, playing down the hardline Hindu platform

which swept it to power in Gujarat last year.

 

But as in all Indian elections, there is always a dose of hardline

Hinduism, and the Bhojshala provides the perfect source for this.

 

AYODHYA REVISITED

 

Some Hindus say the Saraswati idol was once in a temple at the heart

of the Bhojshala which they say used to be a Sanskrit university.

They say the idol was removed while India was under Muslim Mughal

rule before ending up in Britain.

 

The state's chief minister, Digvijay Singh, and Muslims say the

Bhojshala is not a temple but a mosque. Until February, Muslims had

permission to pray every Friday at the pillared building while

Hindus were allowed to pray only once a year.

 

But after thousands of Hindu activists demanding more frequent

access clashed with police, authorities threw open the monument to

Hindus to avert any trouble.

 

Some hardliners have compared the protest to the campaign for a

temple in the northern town of Ayodhya, where Hindu zealots tore

down a 16th century mosque in 1992, triggering religious riots in

which some 3,000 people were killed.

 

"Bhojshala is not alone. There are 3,000 other disputed temples that

we want freed," said Ashok Jain, the local chief of the hardline

Hindu Jagaran Manch.

 

"At the moment, it's a local issue, but over time it can become a

national issue. The momentum of the Bhojshala can exceed that of

Ayodhya," said Jain.

 

Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited.

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