<< You have, of course, the British to thank for the fueling the ill-will between the two - they were the one seeding the notion of Muslims seperating form India.
The British are the most vile people ever to exist on this planet. Take a look at their museums, and you will see the plunder that fills their "glorious" history. >>
Actually I disagree. If the British hadn't conquered India when they did, there would be no Hindus alive today. Since 1000 AD, India has been ruled by a succession of brutal, genocidal Muslim rulers, whose collective crimes make the Holocaust pale in comparision. Indians may have been 2nd class citizens under the British, but - for Hindus - that scenario was 1,000 times better than living under the rule of Muslims.
I am glad that the Muslims separated from India as well. 150 million Muslims in India cause enough trouble. I can't imagine what it would be like with 400 million of them. Ideally, India should have arranged for a population exchange with Pakistan. Pakistanis murdered and drove out all the Hindus living in their lands during the time of partition. In India, Nehru got on his hands and knees and begged the Muslims to stay because he wanted to create a "multi-ethnic utopia" (yeah right!).
Getting back to the issue, tensions have been high between Hindus and Muslims regarding the Ayodhya issue for quite some time. In Northern India, virtually all temples (some dating back 1000 BC) had been destroyed by the Muslims during their rule. The same can be said of most Jewish and Christian holy sites throughout the Middle East. During the Muslim rule of Southern Europe, many churches were destroyed and/or converted into Mosques, although the latter were converted back into churches when the Muslims were driven out. Although it was wrong that a mob of Hindus destroyed the Ayodhya mosque in 1992, the issue has to be looked at with some perspective. In the past 1000 years, Muslims have razed 10s of thousands of temples throughout India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (all of which used to be Hindu areas). In that time, Hindus have demolished exactly one mosque.
Tensions have been fairly high regarding the Ayodhya issue, with both sides make provacative remarks. There had been a status quo, and peace for at least 10 years. However, the current cycle of violence was started by the Muslims, when 2,000 of them gathered at a train station where they knew Hindu pilgrims would be (riding on a train), and torched 58 of them to death, while injuring thousands more.
In India, there is always a big fuss if a Muslim, Christian, Sikh, etc. is killed. However, nobody really says anything if a Hindu is killed. Indeed, after the 58 Hindus were torched to death on the train, the government made little attempt to arrest those who had carried out the crime, and instead threatened (under pressure from Muslim groups) to ban the World Hindu Council, accusing them of "provoking the Muslims into killing the Hindus". In effect, they condoned the crime. No doubt, this is why so many Hindus have now retaliated against the Muslims.