RJB liberation was BJP’s main plank

LUCKNOW: In 1984, four years after its inception, the BJP made no bones of its commitment for the cause of what it called `liberation of Ram Janam Sthan in Ayodhya’ where the Babri mosque stood.

This was after a debacle in 1984 Lok Sabha elections when the BJP could win just two seats as against 414 of the Congress. Marching under leadership of then national president Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the BJP pursued a majoritarian Hindutva politics.Influenced by the electoral setback, the BJP and its ideological fountainhead, the RSS, threw its entire weight behind the

Ram temple movement

.

As the temple movement gained pace, the Congress in 1986 allowed opening of locks at the disputed site, a move that only galvanized an otherwise surging pro-temple agitation. The opening of locks was, in fact, one of the most significant developments after December 22-23, 1949, when the idol of Ram was ‘secretly’ placed under the central dome of BabriMasjid.

At its Palampur convention in 1989, the BJP adopted the “liberation of Ram Janmabhoomi and construction of a grand Ram temple at the disputed site” as its core political agenda. The hard-line Hindutva face of

BJP Lal Krishna Advani

was appointed as president of the saffron outfit. Advani was quick to move in and launch his ‘rath yatra’ in 1990.

The year 1990 was another turning point in Ram temple movement when then UP chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav ordered firing on ‘kar sevaks’ who had assembled at the Ram Janmabhoomi site. At the same time, Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav got the ‘rath yatra’ stopped and arrested Advani inSamastipur.

The BJP was heading for rich political dividends until assassination of then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi foiled its plans and the party was restricted to just 123 seats in the following Lok Sabha elections. Nevertheless, the BJP managed to form a government in UP under the leadership of its fire brand leader KalyanSingh. The stage was set for another round of agitation around Ram Temple. And on December 6, 1992, the disputed structure was hammered down by a frenzied mob of ‘kar sevaks’.

The rest is history.


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