How Ram lalla appeared one winter night, and other tales of Ayodhya
Ahead of the consecration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, The Federal replugs a series on the Ram Janmabhoomi issue, first published in August 2020
How Ram lalla ‘appeared’ one winter night in a disputed mosque
How did the idol of Ram Lalla Virajman, the deity of the Ram Janmabhoomi, ‘appear’ one day at the mosque? It was no small incident, for it fomented a political, legal and socio-cultural battle that was to claim many lives, topple several governments and reshape the contours of India’s polity and society over the next five decades.
The Federal revisits the origin of the Ram Temple-Babri Masjid dispute and the role played by the Congress in turning Ayodhya into a legal, political and cultural flashpoint.
Muslim woman’s fight for Rs 179.20 forces ‘Mr Clean’ to make a blunder
In 1978, Shah Bano Begum, a divorcee and mother of five, fought a protracted legal battle for a measly alimony. How was this linked to the Ayodhya fiasco?
We revisit the origin of the VHP movement for building a Ram temple in Ayodhya, and how Shah Bano’s fight for alimony forced the Congress government led by Rajiv Gandhi to make a series of blunders that were to turn the streets over to the rampaging saffron brigade.
In ‘Mandal vs Kamandal’, VHP’s symbolic win with a flag atop Babri Masjid
Then Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, a former wrestler and a staunch socialist, claimed he had made such a foolproof security arrangement in Ayodhya that,“Kar sewak toh kya parinda bhi Ayodhya mein par nahi maar sakega” [“Kar sewaks (VHP volunteers) ? Even birds won’t be able to fly into Ayodhya”].
His plan was not foolproof, after all. The Federal revisits the dramatic events that followed the VHP’s call for a march to Ayodhya.
Jai Shree Ram, ho gaya kaam: Mosque falls in Ayodhya, BJP rises in Delhi
Rajiv Gandhi’s dislike for Chandra Shekhar, PV Narasimha Rao’s mishandling of Ayodhya, Atal Behari Vajpayee’s oratory powers, LK Advani’s rath yatra — on a ‘chariot’ built on a Swaraj Mazda… what turned BJP into a powerful vote-catching machine wrapped tightly in right-wing ideology?
We revisit the events that led to the mosque’s demolition and the BJP’s rise.
Mandir Wahin Banayenge: After 30 yrs, India’s tryst with Hindutva destiny
Once the mosque was demolished, the Sangh Parivar’s slogans lost their fizz. After a severe electoral rout in 2004, it became evident to the BJP that dropping the Hindutva campaign was a bad idea, and that ‘India Shining’ campaigns would never fetch it votes. That was how “Mandir wahin banayenge” (“We will build the temple in the same spot”) gathered momentum.
In November 2019, the Supreme Court ruled the site should be given to Hindus. The Federal revisits the calm before the Supreme Court verdict that paved the way for a Ram temple in Ayodhya.
