Ram Janambhoomi and the Babri demolition has been the central point of India in last 40yrs. Yes it went into back burner between 2004-14 but most of the political events have revolved around it or happened due to it. But very few people know what happened between 1989 (Rajiv losing elections) and March 1993. So hang on as this is a chronological timeline of the event of modern India
After major failures, Rajiv lost the elections and his massive mandate in 1989. VP Singh, who was Defense Minister In Rajiv’s Govt, got the PM post with a rag tag alliance. He was forever worried about his post and that led him to enact the Mandal commission report which increased the reservations to 49% in govt jobs. Mandal commission divided the Hindu community right in middle. BJP which was finally seeing growth, saw this as a political danger and began a rath yatra in Sep 1990.
The Rath yatra was headed by Advani and coordinated by none other than Narendra Modi The yatra was to reach Ayodhya on 30th Oct.
The yatra was riddled with politics with Advani getting arrested in Bihar. However on 21st Oct, Kar Sevaks started to assemble in Ayodhya with the purpose to construct the temple Mulayam Singh was the CM of UP and he wanted to cement his vote bank during his first term. He saw a great opportunity in stopping the kar sevaks to corner 15% of Muslim votes in UP.
MSY fortified Ayodhya with over 40k policemen and curfew was put in the district. 30 Oct, 1990 was considered the D day – the day kar sevaks were to get to the site and “organize” themselves.
Police stopped everyone and there were mass arrests. Few kar sevaks swam across the Saryu River and hid in various places to appear suddenly for the kar seva. Police went brutal on the kar sevaks they found and even went to lathicharge Ashok Singhal, VHP head.
It is at this moment that a sadhu stole a bus of the UP police and drove through the barricades and headed towards the masjid. This was followed by 5000 kar sevaks chasing the police. Kothari brothers were able to mount on the main dome of the masjid and they put up the saffron flag.
Police being chased and chaos was too much for MSY and he ordered firing at kar sevaks. Several kar sevaks were killed on 30th Oct, 1990 in police firing.
On 1st Nov 1990, the dead bodies were ceremated On 2ndNoV 1990 the kar sevaks re-organized. However this time, Police went lethal and killed kar sevaks at will. People were picked from homes and shot while kneeling down Kothari brothers were killed at point blank More on Kothari brothers and people who gave shelter risking their lives.
Mulayam Singh overnight became the top choice is Muslims for protecting the masjid and Mullah Mulayam because his new name in UP.
In the aftermath, MSY lost his CM post and a lodh leader of BJP became the CM of UP.
The deaths of kar sevaks became a big issue. In Oct 1991, a rally was called in Delhi’s boat club and it was massive mobilization.
Fast forward to Oct 1992. RSS and VHP gives a call to gather at ayodhya on Dec 6th. 150k people start to gather at ayodhya. Intelligence agencies kept sending notices to PM and CM that something was about to happen.
However PVNR ignored all of them Here is a controversial take on it – PVNR wanted the masjid to come down. The wily politician in him saw an opportunity for congress however he overplayed his hands On the other hand Kalyan Singh was adamant that no matter what police won’t fire on kar sevaks.
On the fateful week, speeches were made by Advani, ABV, Uma Bharti On 6th Dec 1992, the Babri masjid was demolished In 5hrs every piece of rubble was loaded on trucks (pwd trucks were used) and it was thrown in the saryu river A makeshift temple was created.
Army wasn’t called till that moment and police followed orders from CM office. Kalyan Singh resigned immediately. All BJP govt across India were dismissed by congress. Riots started all over India but Mumbai saw the biggest riots.
Mumbai riots began on 7th Dec with Hindu killings especially the ones in dongri. The Hindu started rioting in Jan which led to massive destruction throughout the city.
The main party involved in the riots was shiv Sena which supported the riots at its grassroot levels On 12th March, 13 bombs went off across Mumbai. It was done by Dawood, Tiger memon and Yakub Memon. 257 people died and 1400 were injured.
The main motive behind the blasts was to avenge the demolition of the Babri masjid by D-Company.
Something that started as a response to Mandal commission eventually led to riots and blasts in the city of Mumbai Mumbai was never the same again. Shiv Sena became the party of Mumbai. Dawood has since lived in Karachi. Yakub was hanged.
A close of associate of Dawood, Chota Rajan spilt away from him post the blasts as he saw it bring religion into gang work. Chota Rajan would go on to make several assassination attempts on Dawood and working closely with Indian agencies The subsequent gang war in Mumbai saw several deaths.
From politics to gangs to govt to courts. Ayodhya and Ram Janambhoomi has touched everything in India!
(This article has been compiled from the tweet thread posted by @niks_1985 on January 17, 2023, with minor edits to improve readability and conform to HinduPost style guide)
