Indian minister, party leaders to be tried in mosque demolition case

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) - An Indian government minister from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party and several top party colleagues must face trial for their alleged role in the 1992 demolition of a mosque by a Hindu mob, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday.

The demolition of the Babri mosque in the northern town of Ayodhya triggered religious riots that killed thousands, deepening divisions between Hindus and India’s large Muslim minority that remain today.

The court said Uma Bharti, Modi’s water resources minister, and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veterans L. K. Advani and M. M. Joshi, should face trial on criminal conspiracy charges for making inflammatory speeches that incited Hindus to tear down the 16th century mosque.

A lawyer for Advani, K. K. Venugopal, declined to comment outside the court in New Delhi. Bharti denied the charges, telling reporters that there was no conspiracy and that it was her dream to see the temple built. Calls to Joshi’s office went unanswered.

A spokesman for the Hindu-nationalist BJP, G.V.L. Narasimha Rao, was quoted by media as calling the charges “baseless”.

The charges against the BJP leaders, brought by the Central Bureau of Investigation, date back more than a decade and were previously blocked by another court.

But the court’s decision to order the trial, and for it to be completed within two years, will be a blow to the BJP and revive debate about the brand of Hindu nationalism within Modi’s party.

Modi has himself been dogged by questions over his Hindu nationalist ideology. He long faced allegations that he looked the other way or even encouraged Hindu mobs to go on a rampage against Muslims in Gujarat state, when he was chief minister in 2002, after a train carrying Hindu pilgrims was torched.