The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the petition to defer the Allahabad High Court's impending verdict on Ayodhya regarding the settling of the Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid title suit issue.
http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-51784820100928
There is a genuine fear in this city that a verdict in favour of the Hindus may trigger riots by Muslims or vice-versa. Students at the Alliance Francaise and the university are demanding holidays, etc. It's an open secret that riots are triggered by politicians who use criminals to kill people and destroy property.
In fact, local criminals more than welcome riots as an opportunity to settle old scores and benefit from the widespread looting. Murders, rapes and looting during riots usually go unpunished. So has it been since the riots that took place during the partition of India. The Congress party would benefit the most from riots as these could be used an excuse to convince Muslims and other minorities to vote for them in the next election. "Vote for us or face the communal BJP," the Congress would convince scared minorities after taking an active role in the riots.
I don't think there will be riots in the city at this point regardless of how the verdict goes. The fact is that the Congress is more than eager that the Commonwealth Games pass off without any incident and with a large media contingent in India, they'd hardly want images of riots and arson being beamed to all corners of the globe.
Having said that, it would still be prudent to watch one's back in this city, especially in so-called sensitive areas. The Bandra skywalk is close to some Muslim-inhabited slums and I see increasing amounts of aggressive adolescents indulging in aggressive activities on that bridge which border on violence. A few weeks ago, some kids attacked a passer-by for no obvious reason. It's these kind of things that hooligans would love to take advantage of.
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