RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS AND POLITICAL MOBILIZATION 77 44. Ibid. 45. Ibid. 46. Tribune, 8 October 1990. 47. Sunday Observer, 14 October and Tribune, 12 October 1990. 48. Divided We Stand—A Dossier on Masjid-Mandir Conflict, prepared by Delhi Forum, New Delhi, 1992. 49. Peter Hillmore in The Observer, London, 20 October 1990. 50. The Statesman, 20 September, 1990. 51. Ibid. 52. Times of India, 14 October 1990. 53. \ .. the aura and atmosphere of India will now increasingly be authentic Indian and not synthetic secular*. K.R. Malkhani, op.cit., preface. 54. Romila Thapar, Interpreting Early India, New Delhi, 1992, pp. 60-80. 55. Several Muslim leaders are now eager to seek an accommodation with Hindu communal forces. There is an increasing trend among them to accept the demolition of Babri Masjid in lieu of a promise to protect other mosques, particularly those at Benares and Mathura. 56. For details see K.N. Panikkar, Communalism in India: History, Politics and Culture, Introduction, New Delhi, 1991, pp. 1-16. 57. During the last few years the police force has been increasingly communalised. It became distinctly visible during the 1984 riots in Delhi. Subsequently, the police has acted communally on several occasions; their role in the recent riots in Agra, Surat and Bombay are perhaps the worst. At Ayodhya when a group of Bajrang Dal volunteers tore up an exhibition put up by a cultural organisation, Sahmat, on the pretext of injured religious feelings the policemen posted there did not do anything to prevent the vandalism. 58. Theodor W. Adorno: The Culture Industry, London, 1991, pp. 119 and 129.