This refers to the report, “25 years on, Babri issue revived” (April 20). The wheels of justice should certainly turn and justice must be done. However, most politicians, media commentators and intellectuals hold senior BJP leader lK Advani’s rath yatra responsible for the demolition of the Babri Masjid and ignore the developments preceding the yatra. On August 7, 1990, the then Prime Minister, VP Singh, abruptly announced the implementation of the Mandal Commission report which was gathering dust for more than two decades, to rob Devi lal’s backward class voters, which scared the BJP of division of its Hindu voters. The BJP, till then Singh’s ally, decided to take up the Ayodhya issue aggressively and announced the Advani-led Somnath-Ayodhya yatra.
Advani's arrest in Bihar on the orders of the then Bihar Chief Minister lalu Prasad and killing of many karsevaks at Ayodhya in the firing on the orders of the then Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, sealed the fate of Babri masjid. The karsevaks went back to their places and returned two years later, revengeful and determined.