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Opposition leaders block Parliament to protest mosque demolition |
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December 7, 2000
NEW DELHI-- (AP) - Opposition parties Wednesday blocked proceedings in Parliament, demanding the resignation of three Cabinet ministers who joined Hindu nationalists in destroying a historic Muslim mosque eight years ago. Agitated members belonging to the opposition Congress Party and left-wing parties shouted slogans in both houses of Parliament. They called for the resignation of Home Minister Lal Kishan Advani and two other Cabinet members until the speakers of both Houses announced the adjournment. The opposition parties want the Central Bureau of Investigation, India's version of the FBI, to open an independent investigation into Advani's role in the destruction eight years ago of the 16th century Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, a town 550 kilometers (350 miles) east of New Delhi.
The opposition parties fear the CBI's investigations would be hampered since Advani as the home minister oversees the agency. They also feel judicial proceedings would be delayed if the ministers remain in office. Advani, Human Resource Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti, a junior minister, are facing criminal charges after being questioned by the CBI in its preliminary investigation into the razing of the mosque. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee rejected the resignation demand Wednesday, saying the ministers who were in Ayodhya on that day tried to calm the crowd and prevent them from destroying the mosque. He also called the demand for constructing a Hindu temple at the site of the mosque in Ayodhya as the "expression of national feeling" and described it as an "unfinished task." The destruction of the mosque on Dec. 6, 1992, sparked off riots between Hindus and Muslims that killed 2,000 people. Hindu nationalist leaders claim the mosque was built by Mogul rulers at the site of a Hindu temple. They also claim that the site of the mosque is the birthplace of the Hinduism's supreme god, Rama. In Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state where Ayodhya is located, Muslim shopkeepers downed shutters fearing the outbreak of Hindu-Muslim violence. The state government issued a high alert and posted riot police on the streets to prevent any religious violence, with Hindu right-wingers planning to celebrate the destruction of the mosque. The district administration had cordoned off the mosque complex and forbid processions and public meetings in the district to avoid a clash between Hindu and Muslim groups. Muslim organizations in the state declared Wednesday as a "black day" and Muslim delegations handed a memorandum to the district magistrate of Ayodhya demanding the reconstruction of the mosque. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal, two Hindu fundamentalist organizations, were observing the day as "victory day." Defying the ban on meetings, nearly 5,000 voluntary workers of the VHP gathered at Ayodhya pledging to build a Hindu temple at the site. While Muslims comprise only 140 million of India's 1 massive billion population, the South Asian nation does have the world's second-highest Muslim population, after Indonesia.
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