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Not mandir, nor masjid, Ayodhyaites want their life back

Basharat Peer in Ayodhya

A day before the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's planned launch of temple construction work in Ayodhya, only policemen are visible on the streets of this temple town.

The security forces conducted a flag march through the deserted streets on Thursday morning -- six mounted officers followed by around 1500 personnel of the Provincial Armed Constabulary, the Rapid Action Force and the Central Reserve Police Force.

If they were trying to send a message across, they should not have taken the trouble. In the past couple of weeks, Ayodhya has looked populated only with police.

Though most of the shops are open, no customers are in sight. Is it the proverbial lull before the storm?

Nobody in this town, worn down by years of communal tension, is sure whether there would be trouble on Friday when the VHP proposes to start -- in some small way -- the temple construction work.

With the Supreme Court disallowing any puja, symbolic or otherwise, on the acquired land, Mahant Ramchandra Paramhans of the Ram Janan Bhoomi Nyas has now decided to donate a shila (stone) to the court receiver, the Faizabad divisional commissioner, to mark the beginning of the construction work.

It is not yet clear as of now if the divisional commissioner would accept the shila.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad chief Ashok Singhal, on his part, has said that he would march along with 2,000 kar sevaks to the acquired land adjacent to the disputed structure for the puja. The local administration will surely prevent him from doing so and that could lead to trouble.

"At the moment everything seems to be in control. We have enough forces to handle any untoward situation. There are barricades and policemen posted at all entry points to the town and we will ensure that no miscreants enter the city," Superintendent of Police Manmohan Kumar said.

Rapid Action Force Commandant Ashok Bali, who headed the morning's flag march, is confident that his men can handle any untoward situation arising on Friday.

"I do not expect any trouble tomorrow. Even if things go wrong, we have sufficient forces to handle the situation," he told rediff.com.

But he is not leaving anything to chance. "We cannot trust these people. They are unpredictable. But we are ready for anything," he said.

There are around 100 companies of the state police and the CRPF posted in Ayodhya -- roughly 8,000 men.

The locals are happy with the security arrangements.

"The security arrangements are sufficient. It is important to prevent outsiders from creating trouble here," Ramesh Puri, a cloth merchant, said.

But Ayodhyaites have had enough of this undeclared curfew in their lives. They want normalcy to return. They want to attend to their businesses. They want to see their children going to school. They want their life back.

Avdesh Kumar, who runs a shop in the Ayodhya market, has not seen a single customer in the past two weeks. The Ram Mandir-Babri masjid dispute has become a roadblock to Ayodhya's progress, he said.

"Every other day the VHP fixes this or that deadline and things come to a standstill here. Ever since the Babri masjid was demolished in 1992, Ayodhya has not seen any growth. It's just been a long slide backwards. We want the pre-1992 normalcy to return," he said.

A few yards away, Narendra Kumar, a shoe shop owner, sees nothing changing in the near future. "There is scarcity of food items. Whatever is available costs at least four times its normal price," he said.

The paranoid security has made life hell for all.

Ramesh Singh, a resident of Haridwari Bazaar, died in a Lucknow hospital recently. When his wife and relatives reached Ayodhya with the body, the police denied them permission to enter the town.

"They had to take his body to Gorakhpur, where he was born, for cremation. This is not our Ayodhya," a friend of Ramesh Singh said.

"Let them build the temple and settle it for once and for all. We do not have enough to eat. For over a week I have not sold anything. If the mandir is built at least there will be more business here, " said Manzoor Ali, 80. He cares two hoots for the Muslim leaders -- the self-appointed custodians of the faith.

"Muslim leaders don't feed my children. They sit in Lucknow and Delhi and make money out of this issue. We have to stop this fighting, it will destroy both Hindus and Muslims," he said.

Although almost all Muslim families have left Ayodhya, Ali, who lives in a Hindu majority area, is unruffled.

"I have been living in this holy land for over 40 years now. I am not afraid of anyone. I do not see any threat from my Hindu neighbours," Ali said twisting his white handlebar moustache.

The Ayodhya Issue: Complete Coverage

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