July 5, 2005 is no Dec 6, 1992

July 5, 2005 is not December 6, 1992. This is the refrain of the Muslim leadership a day after the attack on the Ram janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid complex. According to convenor of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board Qasim Rasool Ilyas, the situation when the Ram temple issue was at its zenith has changed considerably. "This issue is no longer that emotive, the frenzy of 1992 is over," he adds.

Shahid Siddique, a Rajya Sabha member from the Samajwadi Party and editor of a prominent Urdu newspaper, insists that the issue is "not an emotive one either for the Hindus or the Muslims. There is an attempt by the BJP to use the issue to puts its own house in order. The party appears to be a victim of the 'na khuda hi mile na visale sanam'.

Even the nature of the attack has led to a muted response in the community. "It is not established who had perpetrated the attack. The arrest of the driver, Rehman, a Muslim, has led everybody to assume that it was a jehadi attack. But nobody really knows," says Siddique.

"There has been condemnation from all sections among Muslims. The BJP will really have to work to make this an issue," he adds.

The reason for this sangfroid, according to Mufti Mukarram, Imam of the Fatehpuri Masjid in Delhi, is because the attack was nipped in the bud. Also Muslims are "fed up" with the political procrastination over the issue. "There will be attempts to stoke communal tension, I have no doubts about that. But they will have to be engineered. The issue has lost steam," he said.

Ilyas, a more conservative voice among the Muslim leadership, adds that the community is now engaged in issues more important to it like the Islamic personal law.

"Besides the political significance or insignificance of the issue can be gauged by the fact that the BJP was all but wiped out in Uttar Pradesh in the 2004 elections," he said.

The Ram janmabhoomi movement did change the political dynamics of the country in the last 20 years, but just 13 years after the demolition of the Babri masjid, the aggrieved "other party" seems ready to move on. Food for thought for the Sangh Parivar too.