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AYODHYA, India (Reuters) – More than 200,000 Hindu activists and monks who were demonstrating near a controversial religious site in northern India peacefully dispersed Sunday after asking the government to build a temple on the site of a 16th century mosque.
A Sadhu, or a Hindu holyman, shouts slogans at Sunday's "Dharma Sabha" rally or religious congregation organized by the Hindu nationalist organization Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh , India, November 24, 2018. REUTERS / Pawan Kumar
A similar rally in 1992 near Ayodhya led a Hindu mob to demolish the mosque, causing riots that killed around 2,000 people in one of the worst cases of community violence in India since the 1947 partition. .
Tensions were still strong before the last rally, with a strong presence of security on the site.
The Prime Minister's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), along with affiliated Hindu activists, have increased demand for a temple on the site before a general election is held by next May. Hindus believe that the site is the birthplace of Lord Ram warrior god ..
The mosque, built by a Muslim leader in 1528, is at the center of the conflict between Indian-majority Hindus and minority Muslims, who make up 14 percent of the country's 1.3 billion people. Hindu groups say that there was a temple on the site before the construction of the mosque.
Both Hindu and Muslim groups have asked the Indian Supreme Court to solve the problem. But the Supreme Court has asked for more time and the heavily fortified site, which looks like a small garrison town, is under its control.
Speakers criticized the Supreme Court for failing to make a quick verdict in favor of the temple, while protesters chanted "To hell with the Supreme Court".
This delay has disappointed the Indian-majority Hindu community, which can not wait for a final verdict, said Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) spokesman Sharad Sharma, or the World Hindu Council, which has close with the BJP.
The BJP and the VHP, along with their parent movement, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), have asked the government to issue a decree to build a temple and bypass the Supreme Court.
Anti-Muslim songs sounded on the roads leading to the rally, while the streets of Ayodhya and Faizabad towns were deserted, local residents fearing violence.
"Many people thought that the temple issue was out, but we must warn them that we will not stand idly by until we see Lord Ram's temple," said Krishna Gopal of RSS.
Sunday's meeting will be followed by larger protests in the Indian capital, New Delhi, said Sharma of the VHP.
Report by Mayank Bhardwaj; Edited by Michael Perry / Euan Rocha / Alexander Smith
