The ''Ram Rath Yatra'' was a political and religious rally that lasted from September to October 1990. It was organised by the
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...
(BJP) and its
Hindu nationalist
Hindu nationalism has been collectively referred to as the expression of social and political thought, based on the native spiritual and cultural traditions of the Indian subcontinent. "Hindu nationalism" or the correct term ''Hindū rāṣṭ ...
affiliates, and led by the then-president of the BJP,
L. K. Advani
Lal Krishna Advani (born 8 November 1927) is an Indian politician who served as the 7th Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004. Advani is one of the co-founders and a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is a longtime memb ...
. The purpose of the ''yatra'' was to support the agitation, led by the
Vishwa Hindu Parishad
The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) () is an Indian right-wing Hindu organization based on Hindu nationalism. The VHP was founded in 1964 by M. S. Golwalkar and S. S. Apte in collaboration with Swami Chinmayananda. Its stated objective is "to ...
(VHP) and its affiliates in the
Sangh Parivar
The Sangh Parivar (translation: "Family of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh" or the "RSS family") refers, as an umbrella term, to the collection of Hindu nationalist organisations spawned by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which rema ...
, to erect a
temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
to the Hindu deity
Rama
Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...
on the site of the
Babri Masjid
Babri Masjid (IAST: Bābarī Masjid; meaning ''Mosque of Babur'') was a mosque in Ayodhya, India, at a site believed by many Hindus to be the birthplace of Hindu deity Rama. It has been a focus of dispute between the Hindu and Muslim communi ...
.
The ''masjid'', or mosque, had been built in the city of
Ayodhya
Ayodhya (; ) is a city situated on the banks of holy river Saryu in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Ayodhya, also known as Sāketa, Saketa, is an ancient city of India, the birthplace of Rama and ...
following the
Mughal conquest of the region in 1528. According to hearsay, it was built over a temple dedicated to
Rama
Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...
, and stood on the site of his birth. In the 1980s, the VHP and other Sangh Parivar affiliates began an agitation to build a temple to Rama at the site, with the BJP lending political support to the movement. In 1990, the government of India led by
V. P. Singh decided to implement some of the recommendations of the
Mandal commission
The ''Mandal Commission'' or the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Commission (SEBC), was established in India in 1979 by the Janata Party government under Prime Minister Morarji Desai with a mandate to "identify the socially or educa ...
, and announced that twenty-seven percent of government jobs would be
reserved for people from lower-caste backgrounds. This announcement threatened the electoral constituency of the BJP, which decided to use the
Ayodhya dispute
The Ayodhya dispute is a political, historical, and socio-religious debate in India, centred on a plot of land in the city of Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. The issues revolve around the control of a site traditionally regarded among Hindus to be the ...
to unite the Hindu vote by mobilising anti-Muslim sentiment.
In order to further this movement, the BJP announced a ''rath yatra'', or "chariot journey" across the country to Ayodhya. The procession was led by L. K. Advani, and involved thousands of ''kar sevaks'', or volunteers, from the Sangh Parivar. The ''yatra'' began in
Somnath on 25 September 1990, and passed through hundreds of villages and cities. It traveled approximately 300 kilometers a day, and Advani often addressed six public rallies in a single day. The ''yatra'' caused an outpouring of both religious and militant sentiments among Hindus, and became one of India's biggest mass movements.
The ''yatra'' also triggered religious violence in its wake, with riots in cities across North India. As a result, Advani was arrested by the government of
Bihar
Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...
as the ''yatra'' passed through that state, and 150,000 of his supporters were also arrested by the government of
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
. Tens of thousands of activists nonetheless reached Ayodhya and attempted to storm the mosque, resulting in a pitched battle with security forces which left 20 dead. These events caused further Hindu-Muslim riots to break out across the country, in which hundreds were killed. Muslims were often the victims of these riots, particularly in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Following these riots, the BJP withdrew its support to the Union government, leading to early parliamentary elections. The BJP made significant gains in these elections, both at the national and the state level, on the back of religious polarisation caused by the ''yatra''.
Background and motivation
In Hindu tradition, the birthplace of the deity
Rama
Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...
, known as "
Ram Janmabhoomi
Ram Janmabhoomi (literally, "Rama's birthplace") is the site that is hypothesized to be the birthplace of Rama, believed to be the seventh avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu. The Ramayana states that the location of Rama's birthplace is on the ...
", is considered a holy site. This site is often believed to be located in the city of
Ayodhya
Ayodhya (; ) is a city situated on the banks of holy river Saryu in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Ayodhya, also known as Sāketa, Saketa, is an ancient city of India, the birthplace of Rama and ...
in
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
, at the place where the
Babri Masjid
Babri Masjid (IAST: Bābarī Masjid; meaning ''Mosque of Babur'') was a mosque in Ayodhya, India, at a site believed by many Hindus to be the birthplace of Hindu deity Rama. It has been a focus of dispute between the Hindu and Muslim communi ...
stood. Historical evidence to support this belief is scarce, and several historians have stated that Ayodhya became a religious centre with a number of temples only in the 18th century AD. Additionally, the location of Ayodhya itself is a matter of dispute, since the city has shifted slightly over the millennia. Following the
Mughal conquest of the region in 1528, a
mosque
A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...
was built in Ayodhya by the Mughal general
Mir Baqi
Baqi Tashqandi, also known as Mir Baqi, was a Mughal commander (''beg'') originally from Tashkent (in modern Uzbekistan) during the reign of the first Mughal emperor Babur. He is widely believed to have been made the governor of the province of ...
, who named it the ''
Babri Masjid
Babri Masjid (IAST: Bābarī Masjid; meaning ''Mosque of Babur'') was a mosque in Ayodhya, India, at a site believed by many Hindus to be the birthplace of Hindu deity Rama. It has been a focus of dispute between the Hindu and Muslim communi ...
'' after the Mughal emperor
Babur
Babur ( fa, , lit= tiger, translit= Bābur; ; 14 February 148326 December 1530), born Mīrzā Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad, was the founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent. He was a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through his ...
. According to hearsay, Baqi destroyed a pre-existing temple of Rama at the site. Limited historical evidence exists to support this theory, and the existence of the temple itself is a matter of controversy. Numerous historians have stated that there is limited evidence to support the notion that Rama was born at the precise location of the Babri Masjid, or that a temple to Rama once stood at the site.
For several centuries after the construction of the mosque, the site was used for religious purposes by both Hindus and Muslims. The first recorded claim that the mosque stood on the site of Rama's birth was made in 1822. Citing this claim, the
Nirmohi Akhara
Nirmohi Akhara (English: "Group without Attachment")[Who Are the Nirmohi ...](_blank)
, a Hindu sect, laid claim to the mosque, resulting in inter-communal violence in the period 1853–55. In 1949, an idol of Rama was surreptitiously placed inside the mosque, and an attempt was made to convince devotees that it had appeared miraculously. An official investigation concluded that the mosque had been desecrated and the idol placed there by three men, together with a large band of supporters. This caused an uproar among Muslim people who used the mosque, and the gates to the mosque were locked on the orders of the state government. In the 1980s a movement led by the
Vishva Hindu Parishad
The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) () is an Indian right-wing Hindu organization based on Hindu nationalism. The VHP was founded in 1964 by M. S. Golwalkar and S. S. Apte in collaboration with Swami Chinmayananda. Its stated objective is "to ...
(VHP) began advocating demolishing the mosque and building a temple there dedicated to Rama, heightening religious tension across the country. In 1986, the district magistrate of Ayodhya ordered that the gates be opened once more, and Hindus be allowed access to the shrine. Following its poor performance in the 1984 parliamentary election, the
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...
(BJP) shifted toward a policy of more hardline Hindu nationalism, and lent its support to the demand that a temple be built at Ayodhya. On the strength of this agitation, the BJP won 86
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...
seats in 1989, a tally which made its support crucial to the
National Front government.
In August 1990, then-Prime Minister
V. P. Singh, acting on the recommendations of the
Mandal Commission
The ''Mandal Commission'' or the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Commission (SEBC), was established in India in 1979 by the Janata Party government under Prime Minister Morarji Desai with a mandate to "identify the socially or educa ...
, decided to introduce a policy of reserving twenty-seven per cent of state level government posts for people from lower castes. The new policy was partially an attempt to trim the electoral support of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The core constituency of the BJP were people from upper castes, who had until then held a monopoly over government jobs. The new policy thus fed resentment among the upper-castes, and raised inter-caste tensions in some parts of the country. Mobilising Hindus around the Ayodhya dispute was seen by the BJP as a way to unite its electorate, by creating an issue around which all Hindus could be united against Muslims. This effort tied in well with the philosophy of the
Sangh Parivar
The Sangh Parivar (translation: "Family of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh" or the "RSS family") refers, as an umbrella term, to the collection of Hindu nationalist organisations spawned by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which rema ...
, which professed "cultural nationalism", and believed in the unity of the highly fragmented Hindu population. Since its founding in 1925, supported for the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( ; , , ) is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (Hindi for "Sangh family" ...
(RSS) had been restricted to people of upper castes. The same was true of the
Bharatiya Jana Sangh
The Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh, full name: Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh; ) (ISO 15919: '' Akhila Bhāratīya Jana Saṅgha '' ) was an Indian right wing political party that existed from 1951 to 1977 and was the pol ...
, and its successor, the BJP, which acted as the political wing of the RSS. By supporting the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation, the BJP hoped to spread its influence outside this demographic.
''Rath Yatra''
Etymology and philosophy
As a part of its support for the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation, the BJP organised a ''rath yatra'', or "chariot journey" across the country to Ayodhya in 1990. The ''yatra'' was led by then-BJP President
L. K. Advani
Lal Krishna Advani (born 8 November 1927) is an Indian politician who served as the 7th Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004. Advani is one of the co-founders and a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is a longtime memb ...
. The
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
word ''Yatra'' is variously translated as "journey," "procession," or "pilgrimage": the idea of pilgrimage is a significant one in Hindu traditions. The term ''Rath Yatra'' refers to a procession involving a ''rath'', or chariot, a frequent occurrence at religious sites. In recent decades, displays of strength by Hindu nationalist groups have often been described as ''yatras'', and the idea of the pilgrimage itself has often been harnessed by Hindu nationalists to mobilise support. The city of Ayodhya, in particular, is a place of pilgrimage in the Hindu tradition, because it is seen as a site where a devotee may obtain eternal salvation, a belief used to inspire support for the ''Ram Rath Yatra''. Hindu pilgrimages have traditionally been spaces where caste and gender barriers have been broken to a limited extent. Thus the BJP, seeking to unite its electorate, which was divided by caste-based discrimination, found the imagery of a pilgrimage useful. Furthermore, pilgrimages or processions frequently involve an assertion of dominance over a physical space, which was also relevant to the Ayodhya dispute; the ultimate aim of the ''yatra'' was to support the agitation of the VHP and its
Sangh Parivar
The Sangh Parivar (translation: "Family of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh" or the "RSS family") refers, as an umbrella term, to the collection of Hindu nationalist organisations spawned by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which rema ...
affiliates to erect a temple to the Hindu deity Rama on the site of the Babri Masjid.
Route and imagery
Advani, then the president of the BJP, announced the ''yatra'' on 12 September 1990. The ''rath yatra'' began on 25 September 1990, seeking to capitalise on the massive protests across north India against the reservation bill. The ''yatra'' was supposed to be 10,000 kilometres long, and was planned with the intention of converging on Ayodhya and forcing the government to hand over the site to the Hindutva forces for the construction of a temple. The ''yatra'' began at the Hindu holy city of
Somnath, and was planned to go through the states of
Gujarat
Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
,
Maharashtra
Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...
,
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
,
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...
, and
Bihar
Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...
, before reaching the city of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. Both Somnath and Ayodhya had political significance to the Hindu nationalist movement, because of their association with the legacy of Muslim invaders and rulers. Ayodhya, in particular, was seen as the symbol of Hindu humiliation at the hands of Muslim rulers. Additionally, the BJP wished to draw a parallel between its effort to build a temple in Ayodhya, and the reconstruction of the
Somnath temple, undertaken by the
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
(INC)-led government of India in the 1950s.
The imagery of the procession was designed to represent religious themes. The "chariot" was escorted by activists dressed as mythological deities, and the people marching with the chariot sang songs and raised slogans that had religious themes. A few people marched with the ''rath'' the entire way, but a much larger number attended rallies at each stop. The ''rath'' itself was an air-conditioned converted
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
redesigned to be a chariot. Historian
Ramachandra Guha
Ramachandra "Ram" Guha (born 29 April 1958) is an Indian historian, environmentalist, writer and public intellectual whose research interests include social, political, contemporary, environmental and cricket history, and the field of economics. ...
stated that the imagery of the ''yatra'' was "religious, allusive, militant, masculine, and anti-Muslim." The yatra itself was preceded by an intense propaganda campaign carried out by volunteers of the
Bajrang Dal
The Bajrang Dal () is a Hindu nationalist militant organisation that forms the youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). It is a member of the right-wing Sangh Parivar. The ideology of the organisation is based on Hindutva. It was ...
and the VHP. Along the entire route of the ''yatra'' they distributed pamphlets and posters describing the proposed temple, and vilifying Muslims. VHP leaders made speeches in which they stated that Hindus of past years had shown "impotence" in allowing their holy sites to be taken over by Muslims, and asked them to be more aggressive in the present instance.
Initial stages
The ''yatra'' was flagged off in Somnath with scenes of "frenzied religious sentiments and militant national fervour." Supporters presented Advani with several gifts, including Saffrom flags, a sword, and a bow-and-arrow. Supporters chanted religious hymns as well as battle-cries.
The ''yatra'' began one of the most significant mass movements in Indian history. Advani covered an average of per day, and he typically addressed six rallies in a day. The ''rath'' passed through about 600 villages in Gujarat, and 50 rallies were held. In the village of
Jetpur, Hindu nationalist activists donated a jar full of their own blood to Advani as a symbol of their faith. After Gujarat, the caravan went to Maharashtra, where activist fervour was even stronger because of the support of the
Shiv Sena
Shiv Sena ( IAST: ''Śiva Sēnā'') () was a right-wing to far-right Marathi regionalist and Hindu ultranationalist political party in India founded in 1966 by cartoonist Bal Thackeray. Originally emerging from nativist movements in Bom ...
, a radical Hindu nationalist party. The ''yatra'' then passed through
Telangana
Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...
(then within Andhra Pradesh), in an attempt to mobilise supporters in an area where the BJP had little electoral strength, followed by Madhya Pradesh and
Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...
. The level of popular mobilisation in each state was higher than the press had previously expected, and the ''yatra'' began to receive more national news coverage. Slogans coined by the followers included "''Garv se kaho, ham Hindu hein!''" ("Say with pride that we are Hindus!") An editorial in a national newspaper stated:
Advani's speeches during the ''yatra'' addressed Hindu nationalist themes. He portrayed the Ayodhya dispute as a fight between Rama and the Mughal emperor Babur, and stated that no Hindu could live in peace until a temple had been built on the site of the Babri Masjid. Militant sentiments were visible throughout the rally, as Advani was presented with bows and arrows, tridents, maces, daggers, and swords. BJP leader
Pramod Mahajan
Pramod Vyankatesh Mahajan (30 October 1949 – 3 May 2006) was an Indian politician from Maharashtra. A second-generation leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he belonged to a group of relatively young " technocratic" leaders. At the time ...
stated that "If we are to use all the weapons presented to us, we can liberate the Ram Janmabhoomi in a day," while Shiv Sena leader
Bal Thackeray
Bal Thackeray (; 23 January 1926 – 17 November 2012), also known as Balasaheb Thackeray, was an Indian politician who founded the Shiv Sena, a right-wing pro-Marathi and Hindu nationalist party active mainly in the state of Maharashtra. ...
"threatened to wipe out the 'unholy green' (the color associated with Islam), if the temple construction was obstructed".
Advani's arrest
The ''yatra'' caused growing unrest in its wake, resulting in the government being forced to take action against it. Throughout the ''yatra'', the organisers chose multiple times to defy administrative measures to minimise the impact of it.
Sumanta Banerjee stated that the people arrested along the course of the ''rath yatra'' had all committed to violating the law. Advani paused the ''yatra'' in Delhi for several days, daring the central government to arrest him, which it did not. However, on 23 October the Indian Prime Minister
V. P. Singh authorised
Lalu Prasad Yadav
Lalu Prasad Yadav (born 11 June 1948) is an Indian politician and president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). He is a former List of Chief Ministers of Bihar, Chief Minister of Bihar (1990-1997), a former Ministry of Railways (India), Railway ...
, the Chief Minister of Bihar, to arrest Advani as the procession crossed the border with the state of Uttar Pradesh. Advani was placed in preventive custody. Following his imprisonment, Advani was held in the Masanjore Guest House, a luxury government accommodation. After his release, he stated that through the success of the rally, the power of the people had defeated the power of the state. VHP leader
Ashok Singhal
Ashok Singhal (27 September 1926 – 17 November 2015) was the international working president of the Hindu organisation Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) for over 20 years and in charge of the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi movement. He was replaced in the ...
was also arrested, but managed to escape from police custody within a day. Other activists arrested were often improperly detained, or allowed to escape.
Despite Advani's arrest, the ''
kar sevaks'' or activists accompanying the ''yatra'' continued on towards Ayodhya.
Mulayam Singh Yadav
Mulayam Singh Yadav (22 November 1939 – 10 October 2022) was an Indian politician, a socialist figure and the founder of the Samajwadi Party. In the course of his political career spanning more than six decades, he served for three terms as ...
, the Chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, ordered the arrest of all activists bound for Ayodhya, and 150,000 individuals were jailed. However, a large number of activists succeeded in reaching Ayodhya. Guha estimates this number at 75,000, while
Christophe Jaffrelot
Christophe Jaffrelot (born 12 February 1964) is a French political scientist and Indologist specialising in South Asia, particularly India and Pakistan. He is a professor of South Asian politics and history the ''Centre d'études et de recherches ...
states that it was 40,000. The town also held 20,000 security personnel, brought there by the state government. On 30 October a large number of activists pushed past the cordon of security officers, and moved towards the Babri Masjid. Although they were intercepted by more security forces, they succeeded in avoiding these, and reached the mosque. There, one volunteer placed a saffron flag on top of the mosque, while other activists attempted to tear the building down using tools such as axes and hammers. The security personnel responded by initially using
tear gas
Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ad ...
to expel the ''kar sevaks'', and later
using live ammunition. The ''kar sevaks'' were pushed away from the mosque, but a pitched battle with security followed, which lasted three days, and led to the death of 20 VHP volunteers.
Communal riots
Through the course of the ''yatra'', the participants were frequently aided by the governments of the states they passed through. The procession was often given a police escort, and
Uttar Pradesh police
The Uttar Pradesh Police (UP Police), (IAST: ), is the primary law enforcement agency within the Uttar Pradesh state of India. Established in 1863 as the Office of the Inspector General of Police, United Provinces under the ''Police Act, 1861'' ...
force members are thought to have helped some activists gain access to the mosque, which the police were supposed to be protecting.
The ''yatra'' brought out militant sentiments in the cadre of the BJP, VHP, and Bajrang Dal, and there were several violent clashes along its route. These clashes intensified many-fold after Advani's arrest on 23 October. Riots targeting Muslims occurred in
Jaipur
Jaipur (; Hindi Language, Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Rajasthan. , the city had a pop ...
,
Jodhpur
Jodhpur (; ) is the second-largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan and officially the second metropolitan city of the state. It was formerly the seat of the princely state of Jodhpur State. Jodhpur was historically the capital of the Ki ...
,
Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...
,
Baroda
Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capital ...
,
Hyderabad
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...
, and a few other places. Several hundred people died in these riots, including 130 people in Jaipur between 23 and 31 October.
K. M. Panikkar estimates that 166 communal riots occurred in total between 1 September and 20 November, in which 564 people were killed. Many of these riots occurred in areas that were not on the route of the ''yatra'', but where religious hatred had nonetheless been triggered by it. The largest number of riots occurred in Uttar Pradesh, where 224 people were killed.
The bodies of the ''kar sevaks'' killed in the fight with security forces on 30 October were cremated, and their ashes carried around the country by the VHP. Hindus were asked to avenge the deaths of the activists, who were described as martyrs. Religious riots followed across the country, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, where mobs of Hindus attacked neighbourhoods dominated by Muslims, as well as individuals visibly identifiable as Muslim.
Aftermath
BJP electoral success
The BJP made the Ayodhya agitation a large part of its campaign in the
1991 parliamentary elections, often with the support of the VHP. Its intense campaign drew it a lot of support, particularly campaign funding. The Ram Janmabhoomi issue allowed the BJP to gain significant support in rural areas, whereas it had previously been restricted to support from the urban middle class.
Following the ''Rath Yatra'' and the associated protests, the BJP withdrew its support to the
National Front central government led by V. P. Singh, leading to its collapse. It also prompted the Mulayam Singh Yadav-led
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
state government, in its eagerness to consolidate Muslim votes, to use excessive police force against BJP workers and ''kar-sevaks'', resulting in the alienation of Hindu communities from Singh's
Samajwadi party
The Samajwadi Party ( SP; translation: ''Socialist Party'', founded 4 October 1992) is a Socialism, socialist political party in India, headquartered in New Delhi but mainly based in Uttar Pradesh, with significant presence in other states as w ...
in India's most populous state.
This BJP strategy paid rich dividends in the May–June
1991 parliamentary elections. Relative to the
1989 general election, the BJP doubled its percentage of votes nationwide and made gains in states like Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in the South and Assam in the Northeast. It emerged as the second largest party in the Lok Sabha, after the Indian National Congress. It captured a majority of the Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, where it also won a majority in the state legislative assembly and formed the government. Muslim votes were divided between the Indian National Congress and the Janata Dal, further helping the BJP. It also was able to win a majority of seats in the state legislatures of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and
Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...
, and made gains in several other states.
Demolition of the Babri Masjid
Carrying forward their campaign to build a temple at the site, the VHP, the BJP, and their affiliates organised a rally outside the mosque on 6 December 1992, involving 150,000 VHP and BJP volunteers. Several BJP leaders, including Advani,
Murli Manohar Joshi
Murli Manohar Joshi (born 5 January 1934) is an Indian politician. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of which he was the President between 1991 and 1993, and the former Member of Parliament for Kanpur parliamentary constitue ...
and
Uma Bharti
Uma Bharti (born 3 May 1959) is an Indian politician and former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. She became involved with the Bharatiya Janata Party at a young age, unsuccessfully contesting her first parliamentary elections in 1984. In 1989, s ...
, spoke at the rally. The crowd gradually grew more restive during the speeches, and began to shout slogans of a militant nature. Although a police cordon had been placed around the mosque in preparation for an attack, a young man slipped past the cordon around noon and climbed the mosque itself, waving a saffron flag. The mob took this as a signal to attack and stormed the mosque, bearing hammers and axes. The policemen were outnumbered and unprepared, and fled the scene. The crowd set upon the mosque unopposed, and leveled it within a few hours. Hindu mobs also demolished a number of other mosques in Ayodhya. The demolition triggered massive Hindu-Muslim violence across the country, in which more than 2000 people, the majority of them Muslim, were killed.
The central government ordered an inquiry into the demolition. The report of the inquiry, written by retired judge
Manmohan Singh Liberhan, indicted 68 people for the demolition, including a number of BJP leaders. The people named in the report included Advani, Vajpayee, Joshi, and Bharathi, as well as then-Uttar Pradesh-chief minister
Kalyan Singh
Kalyan Singh (5 January 1932 – 21 August 2021) was an Indian politician and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He served twice as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and as a Member of Parliament. He was the Chief minister of Utt ...
. The report stated that Singh had appointed officers to the area who were less likely to act to prevent the demolition. It stated that the leaders of the BJP could have prevented the demolition if they had chosen to do so, and quoted a security official as saying that provocative speeches had been made at the rally. The report also stated that the demolition was "neither spontaneous nor unplanned". In April 2017, a special
Central Bureau of Investigation
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the premier investigating agency of India. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Originally set up to investigate bribery and governmen ...
court framed criminal conspiracy charges against Advani,
Murli Manohar Joshi
Murli Manohar Joshi (born 5 January 1934) is an Indian politician. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of which he was the President between 1991 and 1993, and the former Member of Parliament for Kanpur parliamentary constitue ...
,
Uma Bharti
Uma Bharti (born 3 May 1959) is an Indian politician and former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. She became involved with the Bharatiya Janata Party at a young age, unsuccessfully contesting her first parliamentary elections in 1984. In 1989, s ...
,
Vinay Katiyar
Vinay Katiyar (born 11 November 1954) is a politician and
the founder-president of Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of the Hindu nationalist organisation Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in India. He has served as an All India General Secretary of the B ...
, and several others. In 2020 the court acquitted Advani, Singh, and all 30 others accused.
References
Notes
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{Refend
1990 in India
Ayodhya dispute
Attacks on mosques
Attacks on religious buildings and structures in India
Bharatiya Janata Party
History of Uttar Pradesh (1947–present)
Religiously motivated violence in India
Religious riots