Ramjanmabhumi: Hinduizing Politics and Militarizing Hindudom 141controversial mass conversions of Hindus to Islam and jealousy over the
foreign-remittance prosperity of Muslims have instigated Hindu fear and
communalism.
The Indian communists look at the demolition from a larger perspective.
Having robbed India of its economic sovereignty with the IMF-dictated
economic policies, imperialism waits at the doorsteps, threatening India's
national sovereignty. "When the working class was fervently trying to
mobilise the people in the struggle against the policies," the Sangh Parivar
launched its assault on the unity and integrity of the country. Their tim-
ing "has no doubt suited the imperialists and their agents."^102 Although
the imperialists and their agents may not have a direct hand in the crisis,
it is true that the Hindu-Muslim communalisms do not take part in an
isolated theater of Ayodhya, or India for that matter. The rise of Islamic
fundamentalism in Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh also sets
the larger stage for this demolition. A Pakistani commentator, Iqbal Jafar,
argues rightly that the intolerant approach to religion and politics in Paki-
stan weakened the liberal forces all over the subcontinent. He writes, "BJP
without its counterparts in the neighbouring countries could not have
grown so powerful as it eventually did. Having rejected not only secular-
ism but even a just, tolerant and enlightened version of Islam, we should
not have expected the Indian secularism to be real and effective."^103
The mosque demolition, which proved to be profitable political capital
in the neighboring countries, is a good example for this interactive funda-
mentalism. The Babri Masjid incident came on the eve of Banazir Bhutto's
proposed second march to Islamabad and provided a great opportu-
nity for the ruling coalition to divert the public's attention. The Nawaz
Sharif government swiftly called for a general strike in Pakistan to protest
against the "demolition and desecration."^104 Bhutto and fundamentalist
groups also competed to grab the center stage. As a result, the million-
strong Hindu community, most of whom live in Sindh, paid a heavy price.
In Karachi, mobs destroyed almost all the temples and ransacked Hindu
localities. The Bangladeshi Muslim fundamentalists went one step ahead
of their Pakistani counterparts and vowed to carry forward their riotous
movement until the Ayodhya mosque was reconstructed.
All these readings had varying degrees of validity, as the karsevaks came
from a wide section of the Indian society, and therefore all the larger issues
of the society were linked to this destruction and the resultant communal
riots. However, it is important to note that the Ramjanmabhumi move-
ment included the retelling of a communally charged history, effective
translation of mythical lore into modern mobilizing metaphors and ideol-
ogy, transforming the resultant frenzy into retaliatory corrective measures,
and utilizing all these to emerge powerful, with added strength to the
accentuated status quo. Ram and history have come to be potent weapons
of the "innocent" Hindutva forces to attain their Hindu Rashtra somatic
and establish their strength.