Ayodhya: Why We Should Move On
On November 9, we reached a tide in the affairs of our nation that, to paraphrase Shakespeare, if taken at the flood, could lead us to peace and prosperity but omitted, could continue to bind us in the shallows of our past miseries. On that day, with its verdict on the 70-year-old Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case, the Supreme Court brought closure to one of the darkest chapters in the history of independent India. Few disputes had divided the country as starkly on religious lines as this one. The poisonous brew of politics and religion tore our nation asunder for decades and pushed us to the edge of the precipice. No internal communal conflict claimed as many innocent lives-2,000 at last count-as the conflagration over the Ram temple did, spawning a retaliatory bloodlust and opening our flanks to a hostile western neighbour to stoke the flames of communal antagonism.
The Supreme Court verdict is an opportunity for us to step back from the brink. The highest court of the land rightly sensed a greater virtue in clarity and decisiveness
