Ramjanmabhoomi by Arun Anand & Vinay Nalwa

Author:Arun Anand & Vinay Nalwa [Anand, Arun]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Demolition of Disputed Structure

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construction, indicating that the government was willing to resolve the issue in stipulated time.

On 25 July, 1992 a representative of the Prime Minister met VHP leader Ashok Singhal with an assurance that the Prime Minister would not only personally handle the matter, but would also find a solution within three months by consulting both the parties. In response to this appeal, the construction work was stopped. However, the leaders of the VHP also indicated that the karseva could resume in the month of October-November, 1992, if a solution is not found within three months’s deadline.

In September 1992, Sri Rama padukapujan (worshipping the footwear of Lord Rama) was organised in villages across the country. Another call was given to devotees to reach Ayodhya on Gita Jayanti (6 December, 1992).

Amidst all this, a group of 45 historians and archaeologists conducted a seminar at Ayodhya to examine the ASI’s latest findings on the disputed site. Meenakshi Jain has given detailed account of this seminar in her book Rama and Ayodhya (pp. 187). According to Jain, during the exploration trip, R.C. Agarwala, former Director of Department of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Jaipur, discovered a letter ‘Shri’ written in Nagari script. It was found to be written on a black stone pillar fixed on the left-hand outer wall of the main entrance of the Babri mosque. It was found to be of 11th-12th centuries. Another finding was on the eastern boundary wall of the masjid. It was found that this was built on the plinth of the temple.

“Dr. S.R. Rao, advisor on Marine Archaeology at the Institute of Oceanography, Goa, also came upon a large piece of stone decorated with floral motifs fixed below the southern dome on the eastern wall of the structure”( BJP Today, 1-15

February 1993: 13-17).

On 6 December, 1992, more than 1.5 lakh Hindus

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Ramjanmabhoomi

reached Ayodhya for the symbolic karseva. The efforts of the state administration and paramilitary forces to stop people from coming to the place where Lord Rama was born (Ramjanmasthan) proved futile.

The forces deployed in and around Ayodhya included 35 companies of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC), 195

companies of paramilitary forces, four companies of CRPF, 15

tear gas squads, 15 police inspectors, 30 police sub-inspectors and 2,300 police constables. Both political and religious leaders present there were addressing the crowd since morning. Although it started like a public rally but within a couple of hours the crowd gradually grew restless and started raising slogans.

In spite of clear instructions by these leaders that the disputed structure shouldn’t be disturbed, devotees of Lord Rama grew even more impatient. The crowd ripped through the heavy barricades which had been put up around Babri structure for its safety. Riding high on the passion, a group of karsevaks (volunteers performing karseva) climbed up the three-domed structure and brought it down.

The entire structure made from mud and chalk was levelled by the crowd with axes, hammers, and grappling hooks. Within next five hours, the karsevaks pulled down the disputed structure. A deity of Sri Ram Lalla was installed at a flat platform.

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