Time to close ranks

The horrifying attack in Ayodhya was foiled before the armed men reached the makeshift temple, the perpetrators were killed by security pers...

The horrifying attack in Ayodhya was foiled before the armed men reached the makeshift temple, the perpetrators were killed by security personnel before they could succeed in their intended outrage. The day after, it is important to remind ourselves of the tragedy averted. And to find the poise that is most needed for the nation to confront a critical moment like this. By attempting an attack in Ayodhya, the site of so many grand passions, religious and political, the terrorists aimed at stirring up a communal conflagration perhaps leading to the disrupting of the peace process with Pakistan. Those dark ambitions cannot be allowed to succeed.

There have been several high-profile acts of terrorism in the recent past. Be it the storming of the Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar in September 2002 and the Raghunath temple in Jammu two months later, or the attacks on Parliament and the J038;K assembly 8212; in each, militants took advantage of a chink in the security armour. There is an increasingly urgent case, therefore, for plugging the holes and raising the levels of vigilance at sensitive sites. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has done well to restate his government8217;s resolve to do just that. But there is a wider responsibility that each of these events thrusts upon us. As the government gets down to work, the Opposition must give it the political space and support it needs to concentrate on the task. This is not the moment to howl for resignations 8212; of the UPA government at the Centre or the Mulayam government in Uttar Pradesh or both. This is not the moment to stir up the phantom of an entire community in danger, as the BJP has sought to do by dubbing it an 8216;8216;attack on Hindu faith8217;8217;. The main opposition party must realise that its reaction lurches irresponsibly close to the VHP8217;s omnibus rant which lumps Pakistan, jehadi terrorism, votebank politics, reservations for Muslims, into a seamless spectre. This is the time to close ranks against the terrorist design to stir up divisive forces, as the nation most conspicuously did in the face of the attack on Parliament, which happened on the NDA8217;s watch. Nationwide protests are a strategy for another occasion.

It has often seemed that India is a place of many combustible anxieties. In recent times, we have justifiably taken pride in draining that image of much of its potency. A nation increasingly surefooted in the world, one that is confidently reaching out to its neighbourhood, cannot let itself down now.