Internal Test for India

Religious violence is India’s shame and one of its biggest internal threats. A ruling Wednesday by that nation’s Supreme Court gives the government a chance to atone for the abysmal failure of state and local authorities to stop Hindus from slaughtering hundreds of Muslims this month.

The court barred Hindus from holding a prayer ceremony planned for Friday in the northern Indian town of Ayodhya until a lower court rules whether the site should be given to Muslims or Hindus. For centuries a mosque stood on the site, but in 1992 Hindu fundamentalists destroyed it, saying it was the birthplace of the god Rama and they would build a temple of their religion there. Riots between adherents of the two faiths after the destruction of the mosque killed at least 3,000.

This month Muslims set fire to a train carrying Hindus from Ayodhya through the state of Gujarat, killing nearly 60. Revenge killings left nearly 700 dead, most of them Muslims. In narrow dirt lanes, Hindus battled Muslims with sticks and swords. Assailants burned residents to death in their homes while police stood by and watched.

A Hindu fundamentalist political party dominates India’s coalition government, which had urged the court to let the prayer ceremony proceed. That violated its pledge not to back the temple construction attempt at Ayodhya in return for the support of other parties in the coalition. Now the federal government needs to push aside the ineffectual leadership in the states and stop the carnage.

About 80% of India’s 1 billion people are Hindu and 12% Muslim. India prides itself on being a secular nation, allowing adherents of all religions to practice their faiths, a contrast with Pakistan, which was founded as a home for Muslims fearing persecution in India.

Hundreds of thousands of people died in the religious riots of 1947, when the countries became separate, and periodic outbreaks of sectarian violence have tested India’s commitment to its constitutional guarantees of secularism. The nation still has hundreds of thousands of troops along its border with Pakistan. It can’t afford internal chaos.