Ethnic tensions could flare up again over the site in Ayodhya that caused Hindu-Muslim hostilities in 1992. At that time, Hindu nationalists incited followers to destroy a mosque and begin to erect a Hindu temple on the site sacred to both Muslims and Hindus. Rage over the action swept across India, killing hundreds. Recently, comments by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee produced a surge of Hindu enthusiasm for building the temple, and work has resumed. Should the zealots ignore court orders against any construction until it decides which group, if any, has the right to build a temple, trouble could erupt and spread.
