Is it Still Important

It’s been 17yrs since the incident took place. The Babri masjid was brought down and 17yrs later a one man commission has pointed the finger at the culprits, most of who have retired and some, even deceased. But 17 years later is this report worth anything at all?
Before we get to the core issue I would like to enlighten everyone about the details of the Babri masjid demolition. The masjid was allegedly built by bringing down a Ram mandir and what supposedly started as a peaceful rally ended in a communal riot which brought down the entire structure. It all stated off when the RSS started proclaiming to its peoples that Ramkot hill, Ayodhya was the birth place of Rama and according to their belief there ought to have been a Ram Mandir. The Babri Masjid, which was then actually functioning as a temple, was brought down by the RSS with the help of highly placed politicians. More shocking is the fact that there are people today who “regret” that they were not among those who brought down the structure.
Just a year ago the entire country watched the Christians in Orissa being massacred in another similar riot. The origin of this riot was entirely different but the result was very similar. P. C. Alexander in one of his speeches mentioned about a riot in Maharashtra, which started as a result of a Revered Pastor of the Protestant community preaching that Christianity is the only religion which proclaimed ‘True God’ and any other forms of worship, is equivalent to idolatry. Such preaching can be out rightly condemned. It is up to the people to compare the religions. The preacher should have limited himself to preaching the dogmas of the religion. I would not be surprised if the reason for the Orissa turmoil was something similar.
Religious communal riots have not been uncommon in independent India. The various sects have been in violent collision against each other in secular India. Instead of finding out the cause of each of these riots it is time we look at the broader aspects governing the origin of these riots. One irrefutable fact is that people’s perspective of the dimensions of religion like faith, belief, doctrines, etc. has not changed for decades and we have to go a long way to educate people on religion.