Perhaps unsurprisingly the Allahabad High Court struck a compromise between Hindu and Muslim interests last Thursday, ruling that the site be divided between all three parties: beside Muslims and “Hindus” are the Nirmohi Akhara sect, devotees of the Hindu god Hanuman. Text of the judges’ rulings can be read here (thanks to DavidP for this), which basically state that the court recognises the Hindu belief that the area under the mosque’s dome was the birthplace of Rama and where an idol and makeshift Hindu temple were erected should be given to the Hindus. They further recognise, however, that 16th century construction of the mosque was undertaken on a site which was, at that time, unoccupied and that in the 19th century Muslims and Hindus worshipped together in the same compound. As such, Muslims will retain an equal third share of the site. Whether this will allow them to reconstruct a (smaller) mosque on the site, or some sort of shrine is unclear.

I was a little surprised that they postponed the verdict from the original date of Friday the 24th to Thursday the 30th of September, so much closer to the opening ceremony of the New Delhi Commonwealth Games on Sunday the 2nd of October, given that they were clearly worried about civil unrest. Apparently 200,000 police were deployed around the nation to avoid a repeat of the 1992 riots. I suppose it’s possible that either they’d gotten wind of violent demonstrations in the intervening time or even that the court simply wished that time to deliberate their verdict, and Commonwealth Games be damned.

Supporting the view of an increasingly secular India put forward in such recent volumes as William Dalrymple’s Nine Lives, the Twittersphere lit up after the verdict urging peace and secularism. Posts included such comments as “We have built enough mosques and temples. Lets build the nation now”, and “Yes religion is important but NOT place of worship. And violence is not encouraged in any religion”.

Indo-Asian News Service ‘Let’s build nation now, says twitterati after Ayodhya judgment‘, Hindustan Times (30/9/10)

It has been confirmed that the verdict will be handed down on the 30th of September, as I previously speculated the dating of the texting ban extension indicated.

‘Indian court to rule on Ayodhya mosque row on Thursday‘, Reuters.com (28/9/10)

The Indian government has banned bulk texting for three days until the publication by the High Court as to whether the Babri mosque is on Muslim or Hindu land. The poor Jains don’t even get a look-in.

Built in the 16th century on land that Hindus believe to be the birthplace of Rama, antipathy about the mosque came to a head in 1992 when it was demolished by a Hindu mob, leading to tit-for-tat attacks around the country.

Presumably the government is worried, given that the Bombay riots were fuelled by simple media reports, that bulk texting could result in much better organised rioting. I suppose the flash mobs of the Cronulla riot stand testament to that. I wonder if they’re going to ban talk-back radio for the next 3 days as well, although the Editors’ Guild of India has recommended that media outlets should avoid being inflammatory

Reuters ‘India bans bulk text messages before Ayodhya mosque verdict‘, Reuters.com (23/9/10)

Also, I wrote a fiddly post about the following story that got destroyed by WordPress (grr…). I was too annoyed to start from scratch so here’s a link:

Press Trust of India ‘On Facebook, young Muslims turn away from Islam‘, NDTV.com (7/9/10)

UPDATE: The Supreme Court (superior, as in America, to the previously mentioned High Court) has delayed Friday’s verdict in a bid to settle out of court. This seems unlikely, as both sides remain adamant. The government has not yet issued a repeal of their bulk texting ban.

Reuters ‘Supreme Court orders Ayodhya mosque verdict postponed‘, Reuters.com (23/9/10)

UPDATE 2: The ban on bulk texting has been extended until the end of September. It’s possible that gives some kind of indication on the date of a verdict.

I wonder if marketing companies or something are affected?

UPDATE 3: Google is my friend. American ad rag Advertising Age has a story on how the ban affects marketing companies in India.The Economic Times of India report one telco exec estimating an industry loss of 30 million rupees (under US$1 million), although that was based on the 3 rather than 7 day ban. They noted “Most cellphone operators and industry lobbies had no comment on the ban”, which struck me as strange.

Apparently the government may be further authorised to ban all SMS services in “sensitive” areas when the verdict comes down.

Kunur Patel ‘India SMS Ban Handicaps Massive Social Net‘, Advertising Age (24/9/10)

I’m sure I’ve heard of this before, but a brief note in this article in the Washington Post on inter-caste marrying in India reminded me.

Apparently many Indian dating sites allow you to specify particulars such as caste and skin colour. I’m just trying to imagine what the reaction would be if we had such a site in Australia where you could specify a desired social class and skin tone…