Troubled India: A Doomsayer’s Paradise

Pessimism about India is nothing new. Right now, there is no dearth of gloomy news from the subcontinent. Not only was former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassinated in a particularly violent election campaign last spring, but two separatist insurgencies continue to wrack the country. In the northern states of Kashmir and Punjab, ethnic rebellions threaten national cohesion. In Uttar Pradesh, a large, populous state also in the north, a controversy surrounds the Babri Masjid, a mosque that, it is said, stands on the ruins of an ancient Hindu temple. An ardent and growing number of Hindus refer to the area as Ram Janmabhoomi or the birthplace of Lord Rama, one of the principal figures in the Hindu pantheon.

This dispute is emblema...