Archbishop Oswald has called for prayers for peaceful outcome of verdict on Ayodha Mosque

(Sept.21,2010) The President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, CBCI, has called on all the Churches in the country to pray for peace, head of an Indian court ruling on Friday, regarding the destruction of the Ayodhya mosque in Uttar Pradesh, and the Hindu-Muslim clashes that followed. Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay said the “verdict on the Ayodhya mosque should be fair, accepted by all parties, and lead to interfaith harmony. India has a pluralist tradition of peace and this must be defended at all costs,” he added. The Cardinal urged the faithful to act as bridge builders for dialogue and tolerance.
The Court in charge of the case will have to rule on the destruction of the Babri Masjid (Mosque) in Ayodhya,UP, which occurred 1992. On 6th December of that year, 150,000 people, egged on by the Sangh Parivar, a Hindu nationalist umbrella organisation, stormed and demolished the mosque. Clashes followed that led to the death of more than 2,000 people, mostly Muslim. Now, leaders of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stand accused of provoking the incident.
Stating that the outcome of the trial touches everyone, not only Hindus and Muslims, Cardinal Oswald said “ The Church is not a party to this case, but it has a role to play as a bridge builder for understanding, tolerance and respect. For this reason, we must use prayer, the most powerful weapon we have at our disposal, he said
The archbishop of Bombay is the first religious leader to ask his fellow believers to pray for Ayodhya, which, after the destruction of the mosque, was turned into a Hindu temple.