Originally posted by: chatbuster
well, for starters, i have no regrets, not then, not now, except for the innocents in this and other troubles. my salute also to the soldiers who have been caught up in all the wars before, which stemmed from similar history.
to my mind, ayodhya was a necessary reaction to various politicians pandering to minorities and neglecting the sentiments of others. the pendulum had swung too far to one side and ayodhya just happened to be an issue with enough symbolism to serve as the reactionary catalyst. if not ayodhya, it would have been something else imo. but it was needed. it was brewing. there'd been too many episodes of other national flags flying higher during our cricket matches, of people tired of all the politicians coming to power on just the base of minority voting.
if it serves a purpose today, it is this- it reminds various political parties that there is a majority vote bank as well, a bank that at least on certain issues will come together and will not be divided. certain parties had exploited those divisions very successfully in the past to perpetuate their hold on power. they knew that the minorities voted as a block. whoever got that block vote was starting ahead. it was high time that that cynical behavior was checked, that others were not being given short shrift in their own society, that their values, ideals, sentiments and aspirations were also respected and franchised.
i suppose it is fashionable to condemn the ayodhya destruction today. i suppose that works as long as there are others who can do our dirty work for us. no?
ultimately, to those who say that ayodhya should not have happened, that issues relating to vande mataram and our national anthem should not matter, question to them would be- does anything then? why bother with holding on to your religion, to your nationalism, to your territory? why does one feel badly at the thought of religious conversions, of being converted? at the end of the day, we all get carried out on a stretcher. does anything really matter? if the answer to that is yes, then the answer to ayodhya is an even more resounding yes.