During Ayodhya Movement in 1990-92, thousands of Hindu temples were destroyed in Bharat, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Many of the temples were destroyed even before a single brick of Babri felled. Were democracy and secularism not shaken then? Are they shaken only when Babri fell?

Hindus are internationally made the villains of the entire Ayodhya movement even when they were reclaiming their legitimate temple. The fact is that the thousands of Hindu temples destroyed in the same year by Islamist fanatics isn’t talked about and hardly receives any attention.

In November 1989, VHP laid the foundation stone of Ram temple in Ayodhya adjacent to Babri structure. Immediately on next few days, Islamist mobs in Bangladesh burnt Hindu temples and looted Hindu shops. This was followed by a spate of prolonged violence.

So severe was rioting that over 400 Hindu temples were destroyed in Bangladesh (Source: Empire’s Last Casualty: Indian Subcontinent’s vanishing Hindu and other Minorities(2008)). Note that not a single brick of Babri was yet fallen. Still, that was enough pretext to destroy temples

In Kashmir, the situation was no different. From 1989-90 onwards, using the Ayodhya movement as pretext, temple after temple was destroyed by Islamist mobs in Kashmir. 499 temples were either destroyed or desecrated. This was before a single brick of Babri fell.

This is the beauty of Indian secularism. It is alive and kicking when Hindu temples are destroyed in thousands. It is only when Babri fell that Indian secularism fell in danger.

Next year in October 1990, Karsevaks began assembling in Ayodhya . It was during this episode that Mulayam opened fire on unarmed Karsevaks chanting Ram Bhajan. Hundreds of Karsevaks were shot in cold blood. Shedding Hindu blood and destroying Hindu temples is the cost of secularism.

When these incidents were happening in Bharat, a Bangladeshi newspaper named The Daily Inquilab published a rumor that Babri had already been destroyed. That was enough to spark a fresh wave of violence on Hindus and their temples in Bangladesh.

From 1989 to 1992, there was an orgy of anti-Hindu violence in Bangladesh. Hundreds of Hindus were killed. Thousands of Hindu women were gangraped. At least 520 Hindu temples and mathas were damaged. This was the price Hindus had to pay to reclaim their rightful temple

The situation in Bharat was not much better. As a “response” to Babri demolition, there were serious anti-Hindu riots in Assam. 90 people were killed in the riots. Hindus temples were demolished.

2 days after Babri demolition, the New York Times had carried a report. About Assam, it mentioned that 61 Hindus were burned or hacked to death.

The situation was worse in Pakistan. On the very next day, mobs destroyed the ancient Hindu temple of Rawalpindi and chanted Anti-Bharat slogans. Scores of Hindu temples were immediately destroyed in Pakistan and Hindus were lynched indiscriminately.

“At least 1000 Hindu temples were demolished in Pakistan in the aftermath of Babri”- says Pakistani researcher Reema Abbasi. She documents many of these temples in her book.

As a “response” to Babri, there were riots in Kolkata. Two days later, LA Times carried a report which says that Hindu temples were attacked by mobs in Kolkata.

The impact of these anti-Hindu riots of Kolkata on Hindu temple was immense. Any person well acquainted with Kolkata would tell you that many small temples on the roadsides vanished for good during these riots.

Even before Babri was destroyed, there were riots in Hyderabad that killed 200 people. This was after the 1990 Ayodhya firing incident.

After the demolition of Babri, Islamists in Bharat went on a bombing spree. Islamists bombed Bombay, killing 257 people. Islamists bombed Kolkata, killing 65 people. Islamists bombed RSS office in Chennai, killing 65 people.

What was the cost of reclaiming the one temple that was rightfully ours? Thousands of Hindus killed. Thousands of Hindu temples were destroyed. Thousands of Hindu women were gangraped. Despite suffering everything, Hindus are shamed internationally even today over Babri demolition.

People who constantly talk about “Babri demolition” turn a complete blind eye to the thousands of temples destroyed in “retaliation” all over Bharat, Pakistan and Bangladesh. They have also succeeding in guilt tripping many Hindus into secularism. This is the power of propaganda.

(This article has been compiled from the tweet thread of @BharadwajSpeaks)