Won't allow divisive politics: Ayodhya residents

Seventeen years after Kar Sevaks pulled down the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, the Liberhan Commission that was probing into the incident has submitted its report.

But in the holy town of Ayodhya, known as the birth place of Lord Ram, does the Liberhan report really mean anything? The fact that the report has taken more than 16 years with 48 extensions, making it the longest inquiry in history and also one of the costliest inquiries, are those now just numbers that are creating ripples of fear within political circles?

Barely 100 metres from the disputed site, people have an answer.

"We Hindu, Muslims don't want to fight; political leaders should not take advantage of that. The Liberhan Commission report should be dealt with in Parliament and not bred across the country," said Hashim Ansari, Petitioner in Babri Case.

Ayodhya seems to have moved on but there's anger against politicians for dividing people on communal lines. And a sense of determination never to allow a repeat.

Perhaps knowing that for the first time since 1992, Ram was a non-issue in the recent election. Even the BJP that won the seat in 1996 riding on the mandir wave chanted a different tune.

"Please take a pledge to shun vote bank politics in this election; vote for development," Narendra Modi was heard to have said in a Faizabad rally.

The BJP lost, down to fourth place in Uttar Pradesh now.

Clearly, the people of Ayodhya now want to lose painful memories of the day the temple town's secular image was scarred.

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