Calls for calm

An eighteen-year wait is about to get a little longer. The Supreme Court has deferred pronouncing on whether or not the Allahabad high courts judgment on the Babri title suit should be deferred till September 28 which means the lower court will not be delivering its verdict on September 24,as planned. It might mean the judgment has been pushed back by just a week,but could well lead to an even longer wait. However,this is unlikely to stem the interventions that have urged everyone to keep their cool.

Indeed,that has been the most remarkable feature of this period of anticipation,the way people and organisations from across the political and ideological spectrum have called for calm,regardless of the judgments content. Not just from the people who really need to,like Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram. Or from chief ministers responsible for law and order,like Gujarat CM Narendra Modi,who warned,in his characteristically high-pitched style,that enemies of the country are in search of opportunities to disturb its social fabric. No,the interesting point is how near universal is the fear that a judgment that displeases one group or another will toss us back into an earlier and damaging politics,how pervasive the concern that the irresponsible will seize control of the situation and use it,violently,to mar the India story. Various individual members of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board have gone on the record as urging patience,regardless of outcome. Intriguingly,in some sensitive parts of Karnataka,the police have brought together Muslim community leaders and local VHP and RSS heads to jointly urge that the situation stay under control. Even the Shiv Senas Uddhav Thackeray called a party meeting to announce that no Shiv Sainik will indulge in violence,and got on the phone to Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan,apparently to coordinate security for Ganesh Chaturthi processions.

Thats from the most direct stakeholders in the process. But all of us,in truth,have a stake in ensuring that no self-destructive spiral of rancorous bitterness is embarked upon. Thats evident in the fervent,broad-based expressions of hope that any reactions to the verdict,whenever it comes,are mature and forward-looking expressions visible online,in conversations,in paid advertisements,from Hindi film stars discussing their movies. The final judgment may have been postponed,but the demands for calm will not go away.