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, located in Faizabad district,
Uttar Pradesh. The main issues revolve
around access to a site traditionally
regarded among Hindus to be the
birthplace of the Hindu deity Rama, the
history and location of the Babri Mosque
at the site, and whether a previous Hindu
temple was demolished or modified to
create the mosque.

The Babri Mosque was destroyed during

a political rally which turned into a riot on
6 December 1992. A subsequent land
title case was lodged in the Allahabad
High Court, the verdict of which was
pronounced on 30 September 2010. In
the landmark hearing, the three judges of
The Allahabad High Court ruled that the
2.77 acres (1.12 ha) of Ayodhya land be
divided into 3 parts, with 1/3 going to the
Ram Lalla or Infant Rama represented by
the Hindu Maha Sabha for the
construction of the Ram temple, 1/3
going to the Islamic Sunni Waqf Board
and the remaining 1/3 going to a Hindu
religious denomination Nirmohi Akhara.
While the three-judge bench was not
unanimous that the disputed structure
was constructed after demolition of a
temple, it did agree that a temple or a
temple structure predated the mosque at
the same site.[1] The excavations by the
Archaeological Survey of India were
heavily used as evidence by the court
that the predating structure was a
massive Hindu religious
building.[2][3][4][5][6]

Religious background
Ram Janmabhoomi
The Ayodhya debate centres around the
land known today as Ram Janmabhoomi,
on which the Babri Mosque was built in
1528. In the Ramayana, Ayodhya is the
birthplace of the god-king Rama, the son
of Dasharatha, the ruler of Ayodhya, and
his queen Kausalya. He is worshiped by
many Hindus as an Avatar, or incarnation,
of Vishnu.

According to the Garuda Purana, a Hindu

religious text, Ayodhya is one of seven
sacred sites where Moksha, or a final
release from the cycle of death and
rebirth, may be obtained.[7]

Babri Masjid
In 1525, the Mughal king Babur invaded
north India, and conquered a substantial
part of northern India. One of his
generals, Mir Baqi came to Ayodhya in
1528 and after reportedly destroying[8] a
pre-existing temple of Rama at the site,
built a mosque, which has come to be
called masjid-i-janmasthan (mosque at
the birthplace)[9] as well as Babri Masjid
(Babur's mosque).[10] The Babri Mosque
was one of the largest mosques in Uttar
Pradesh, a state in India with
considerable Muslim population.[11] Both
the Hindus and Muslims are said to have
worshipped at the "mosque-temple,"
Muslims inside the mosque and Hindus
outside the mosque but inside the
compound. After the British took over the
State, they put up a railing between the
two areas to prevent disputes.[12]

Historical background
Gupta period

In Buddha's time (600 B.C.) the present

day Ayodhya was called Saketa and it
was one of the 6 largest cities of North
India. During the Gupta times, either
Kumaragupta or Skandagupta made it
their capital, after which it came to be
called Ayodhya. Kalidasa wrote
Raghuvamsa here, and referred to
Gopratara tirtha (Guptar Ghat), where
Rama was believed to have entered the
waters of Saryu in his ascent to heaven.
According to a local tradition recorded by
Francis Buchanan and Alexander
Cunningham, Ayodhya became desolate
after Rama's ascent to heaven and
"Vikramaditya" revived it. (In
Raghuvamsa, Rama's son Kusa revived
it.) Prabhavatigupta, the daughter of
Chandragupta II, was a Rama devotee.
Her son, Pravarasena II wrote
Sethubandha, in which Rama was
regarded as identical to Vishnu. He also
built a temple to Rama at Pravarapura
(Paunar near Ramtek) in about 450
A.D.[13]
Gahadavala period

After the Guptas, the capital of North

India moved to Kannauj and Ayodhya fell
into relative neglect. It was revived by the
Gahadavalas, coming to power in the
11th century A.D. The Gahadavalas were
Vaishnavas. They built several Vishnu
temples in Ayodhya, five of which
survived till Aurangzeb's reign.[14]
Indologist Hans T. Bakker concludes that
there might have been a temple at the
supposed birth spot of Rama built by the
Gahadavalas.[15]:91[note 1] In subsequent
years, the cult of Rama developed within
Vaishnavism, with Rama being regarded
as the foremost avatar of Vishnu.
Consequently, Ayodhya's importance as a
pilgrimage centre grew. In particular,
multiple versions of Ayodhya Mahatmya
(magical powers of Ayodhya) prescribed
the celebration of Ram Navami (the
birthday of Rama).[17]

Mughal period

In modern times, a mosque was located

at the supposed birth spot of Rama,
which sat on a large mound in the centre
of Ayodhya, called the Ramadurg or
Ramkot (the fort of Rama). The mosque
bore an inscription stating that it was
built in 1528 A.D. by Mir Baqi on the
orders of Babur.
According to an early 20th century text
by Maulvi Abdul Ghaffar and the
surrounding historical sources examined
by historian Harsh Narain,[note 2] the
young Babur came from Kabul to Awadh
(Ayodhya) in disguise, dressed as a
Qalandar (Sufi ascetic), probably as part
of a fact-finding mission. Here he met the
Sufi saints Shah Jalal and Sayyid Musa
Ashiqan and took a pledge in return for
their blessings for conquering Hindustan.
The pledge is not spelled out in the 1981
edition of Abdul Ghaffar's book, but it is
made clear that it is in pursuance of this
pledge that he got the Babri mosque
constructed after conquering
Hindustan.[18] The original book was
written in Persian by Maulvi Abdul Karim,
a spiritual descendant of Musa Ashiqan,
and it was translated into Urdu by Abdul
Ghaffar, his grandson, with additional
commentary. The older editions of Abdul
Ghaffar's book contain more detail, which
seems to have been excised in the 1981
edition. Lala Sita Ram of Ayodhya, who
had access to the older edition in 1932,
wrote, "The faqirs answered that they
would bless him if he promised to build a
mosque after demolishing the
Janmasthan temple. Babur accepted the
faqirs' offer and returned to his
homeland."[19][20][21]
The fact that Babur came in the guise of
a Qalandar is corroborated in Abdullah's
Tarikh-i Dawudi, where it is detailed that
he met the Sultan Sikandar Lodhi in Delhi
in the same disguise.[22] The inscription
on the Babri mosque also names him as
Babur Qalandar.[23] Musa Ashiqan's grave
is situated close to the Babri mosque
site, whose shrine uses two of the same
type of black basalt columns used in the
Babri mosque, indicative of his role in the
destruction of the prior temple.[24][20]

While we have had a mosque bearing an

inscription to the effect that it was built
on orders of Babur in 1528, there are no
other records of the mosque from this
period. The Babarnama (Chronicles of
Babur) does not mention either the
mosque or the destruction of a temple.
Tulsidas, who began writing the
Ramcharit Manas in Ayodhya on Rama's
birthday in 1574 (coming there from his
normal residence in Varanasi) mentioned
the "great birthday festival" in Ayodhya
but made no mention of a mosque at
Rama's birthplace.[25] Abu'l-Fazl ibn
Mubarak (1551–1602), who wrote
Akbarnama, completing the third volume
Ain-i Akbari in 1598, described the
birthday festival in Ayodhya, the
"residence of Rama" and the "holiest
place of antiquity", but made no mention
of a mosque.[26][27] William Finch, the
English traveller that visited Ayodhya
around 1611, and wrote about the "ruins
of the Ranichand [Ramachand] castle
and houses" where Hindus believed the
great God "took flesh upon him to see the
tamasha of the world." He found pandas
(Brahmin priests) in the ruins of the fort,
who were recording the names of the
pilgrims, a practice that was said to go
back to antiquity. Again there was no
mention of a mosque in his account.[28]

Late Mughal period

The first known report of a mosque

appears in a book Sahifa-I-Chihil Nasaih
Bahadur Shahi, said to have been written
by a daughter of the emperor Bahadur
Shah I (1643–1712) and granddaughter
of emperor Aurangzeb, in the early 18th
century. It mentioned mosques having
been constructed after demolishing the
"temples of the idolatrous Hindus
situated at Mathura, Banaras and Awadh
etc." Hindus are said to have called these
demolished temples in Awadh "Sita
Rasoi" (Sita's kitchen) and "Hanuman's
abode." [29][30] While there was no
mention of Babur in this account, the
Ayodhya mosque had been juxtaposed
with those built by Aurangzeb at Mathura
and Banaras.
Jai Singh II (popularly called "Sawai Jai
Singh", 1688-1743) purchased land and
established Jaisinghpuras in all Hindu
religious centres in North India, including
Mathura, Vrindavan, Banaras, Allahabad,
Ujjain and Ayodhya. The documents of
these activities have been preserved in
the Kapad-Dwar collection in the City
Palace Museum in Jaipur. Professor
R. Nath, who has examined these
records, concludes that Jai Singh had
acquired the land of Rama Janmasthan in
1717. The ownership of the land was
vested in the deity. The hereditary title of
the ownership was recognized and
enforced by the Mughal State from 1717.
He also found a letter from a gumastha
Trilokchand, dated 1723, stating that,
while under the Muslim administration
people had been prevented from taking a
ritual bath in the Saryu river, the
establishment of the Jaisinghpura has
removed all impediments.[31]

The Jesuit priest Joseph Tieffenthaler,

who visited Awadh in 1766-1771, wrote,
"Emperor Aurangzebe got the fortress
called Ramcot demolished and got a
Muslim temple, with triple domes,
constructed at the same place. Others
say that it was constructed by 'Babor'.
Fourteen black stone pillars of 5 span
high, which had existed at the site of the
fortress, are seen there. Twelve of these
pillars now support the interior arcades
of the mosque."[32] This ambiguity
between Aurangzeb and Babur could be
significant.[33] Tieffenthaler also wrote
that Hindus worshipped a square box
raised 5 inches above the ground, which
was said to be called the "Bedi, i.e., the
cradle." "The reason for this is that once
upon a time, here was a house where
Beschan [Vishnu] was born in the form of
Ram." He recorded that Rama's birthday
was celebrated every year, with a big
gathering of people, which was "so
famous in the entire India."[34][35]

Beginnings of dispute
The first recorded instances of religious
violence in Ayodhya occurred in the
1850s over a nearby mosque at
Hanuman Garhi. The Babri mosque was
attacked by Hindus in the process. Since
then, local Hindu groups made
occasional demands that they should
have the possession of the site and that
they should be allowed to build a temple
on the site, all of which were denied by
the colonial government. In 1946, an
offshoot of the Hindu Mahasabha called
Akhil Bharatiya Ramayana Mahasabha
(ABRM) started an agitation for the
possession of the site. In 1949, Sant
Digvijay Nath of Gorakhnath Math joined
the ABRM and organised a 9-day
continuous recitation of Ramcharit
Manas, at the end of which the Hindu
activists broke into the mosque and
placed idols of Rama and Sita inside.
People were led to believe that the idols
had 'miraculously' appeared inside the
mosque. The date of the event was 22
December 1949.[36][37][38]

Jawaharlal Nehru insisted that the idols

should be removed. However, the local
official K. K. K. Nair, known for his Hindu
nationalist connections, refused to carry
out orders, claiming that it would lead to
communal riots. The police locked the
gates so that the public (Hindus as well
as Muslims) could not enter. However,
the idols remained inside and priests
were allowed entry to perform daily
worship. So, the mosque had been
converted into a de facto temple. Both
the Sunni Wakf Board and the ABRM filed
civil suits in a local court staking their
respective claims to the site. The land
was declared to be under dispute, and
the gates remained locked.[39]

Christophe Jaffrelot has called the

Gorakhnath wing of Hindu nationalism
'the other saffron', which has maintained
its existence separately from the
mainstream Hindu nationalism of the
Sangh Parivar. After the Vishva Hindu
Parishad was formed in 1964 and started
agitating for the Babri Masjid site, the
two strands of 'saffron politics' came
together.[40] The district magistrate Nair,
who refused to carry out orders, was
eventually dismissed, but he became a
local hero and subsequently a politician
of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh.[41]

Demolition of the Babri

Mosque
In the 1980s, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad
(VHP), belonging to the mainstream
Hindu nationalist family Sangh Parivar,
launched a new movement to "reclaim"
the site for Hindus and to erect a temple
dedicated to the infant Rama (Ramlala)
at this spot. The Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP), formed in 1980 from the remnants
of the Jana Sangh, became the political
face of the campaign. In 1986, a district
judge ruled that the gates would be
reopened and Hindus permitted to
worship inside, providing a major boost
to the movement.[38] In September 1990,
BJP leader L. K. Advani began a "rath
yatra" (pilgrimage procession) to
Ayodhya in order to generate support for
the movement. Advani later stated in his
memoirs, "If Muslims are entitled to an
Islamic atmosphere in Mecca, and if
Christians are entitled to a Christian
atmosphere in the Vatican, why is it
wrong for the Hindus to expect a Hindu
atmosphere in Ayodhya?" The yatra
resulted in communal riots in many cities
in its wake, prompting the government of
Bihar to arrest Advani. In spite of this, a
large number of 'kar sevaks' or Sangh
Parivar activists reached Ayodhya and
tried to attack the mosque. They were
stopped by the Uttar Pradesh police and
the paramilitary forces, resulting in a
pitched battle in which several kar sevaks
were killed. Accusing the central
government led by V.P. Singh of being
weak, the BJP withdrew its support,
necessitating fresh elections. In these
elections, the BJP won a majority in the
Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly
increased its share of seats in the Lok
Sabha.[42]

On 6 December 1992, the VHP and its

associates, including the BJP, organised
a rally involving 150,000 VHP and BJP
kar sevaks at the site of the mosque. The
ceremonies included speeches by the
BJP leaders such as Advani, Murli
Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti.[43] The
mob grew restive through the duration of
the speeches, and stormed the mosque
shortly after noon. A police cordon
placed there to protect the mosque was
heavily outnumbered. The mosque was
attacked with a number of improvised
tools, and brought to the ground in a few
hours.[44][45] This occurred despite a
commitment from the state government
to the Indian Supreme Court that the
mosque would not be harmed.[46][47]
More than 2000 people were killed in the
riots following the demolition.[48][49] Riots
broke out in many major Indian cities
including Mumbai, Bhopal, Delhi and
Hyderabad.[50]

On 16 December 1992, the Liberhan

Commission was set up by the
Government of India to probe the
circumstances that led to the demolition
of the Babri Mosque.[51] It was the
longest running commission in India's
history with several extensions granted
by various governments. The report
found a number of people culpable in the
demolition, including BJP leaders like
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani,
Murli Manohar Joshi, then Uttar Pradesh
chief minister Kalyan Singh, Pramod
Mahajan, Uma Bharti and Vijayaraje
Scindia, as well as VHP leaders like
Giriraj Kishore and Ashok Singhal. Other
prominent political leaders indicted by
the commission include late Shiv Sena
chief Bal Thackeray and former RSS
leader K. Govindacharya. Relying on the
testimonies of several eyewitnesses, the
report stated that many of these leaders
had made provocative speeches at the
rally that provoked the demolition. It also
stated that they could have stopped the
demolition if they had so wished.[52]

Many Muslim organisations have

continued to express outrage at the
destruction of the disputed structure. In
July 2005, terrorists attacked the
makeshift temple at the site of the
destroyed mosque. In 2007, M. N. Gopal
Das, the then head of the Ram temple,
received phone calls making threats
against his life.[53] Many terror attacks by
banned jihadi outfits like Indian
Mujahideen cited demolition of Babri
Mosque as an excuse for terrorist
attacks.[54][55][56][57] The legal case
continues regarding the title deed of the
land tract which is a government
controlled property.[58]

Early historical surveys

In 1767, Jesuit priest Joseph
Tieffenthaler recorded Hindus
worshiping and celebrating Ramanavami
at the site of the mosque. In 1788,
Tieffenthaler's French works were
published in Paris, the first to suggest
that the Babri Mosque was on the
birthplace of Rama,[59] saying that
"Emperor Aurangzeb got demolished the
fortress called Ramkot, and erected on
the same place a Mahometan temple
with three cuppolas" reclaimed by Hindus
through numerous wars after death of
Aurangzeb in 1707 A.D like they earlier
fortified it during Jahangir's rule as
Ramkot.

During the 19th century, the Hindus in

Ayodhya were recorded as continuing a
tradition of worshiping Rama on the
Ramkot hill. According to British sources,
Hindus and Muslims from the Faizabad
area worshiped together in the Babri
Mosque complex in the 19th century until
about 1855. P. Carnegy wrote in 1870:

It is said that up to that time, the

Hindus and Mohamedans alike
 used to worship in the mosque-
temple. Since the British rule a
railing has been put up to
prevent dispute, within which, in
the mosque the Mohamedans
pray, while outside the fence the
Hindus have raised a platform
on which they make their
offerings.

— P. Carnegy: A Historical

Sketch of Tehsil Fyzabad,
Lucknow 1870[60]

This platform was outside the disputed

structure but within its precincts.
In 1858, the Muazzin of the Babri
Mosque said in a petition to the British
government that the courtyard had been
used by Hindus for hundreds of years.[61]

The British recognized the religious and

political tension between the Muslims
and Hindus. An early census, taken in
1869, found the Hindu people to
comprise 66.4 percent of the total
population in Ayodhya, and a little over
60 percent in nearby Faizabad. The
British contended that the Ayodhya area
was primarily Hindu, not in regards to this
census, but to the chief spiritual
significance for the birthplace of
Rama.[62]
Mahant Ram case

In 1885, Mahant Raghubar Ram moved

the courts for permission to erect a
temple just outside the Babri Mosque
premises. Despite validating the claim of
the petitioner, the Faizabad District
Judge dismissed the case, citing the
passage of time.[63] On 18 March 1886,
the judge passed an order in which he
wrote:[64]

I visited the land in dispute

yesterday in the presence of all
parties. I found that the Masjid
built by Emperor Babur stands
 on the border of Ayodhya, that is
to say, to the west and south it is
clear of habitations. It is most
unfortunate that a Masjid
should have been built on land
specially held sacred by the
Hindus, but as that event
occurred 356 years ago, it is too
late now to agree with the
grievances. (Court verdict by
Col. F.E.A. Chamier, District
Judge, Faizabad (1886)

.
Post-independence
Several later mosques were built in
Faizabad district, in which the pilgrim city
of Ayodhya falls. Ayodhya itself has a
small Muslim population, though there
are substantial numbers of Muslims
7 km away at District Headquarters –
Faizabad. Since 1949, by Indian
Government order, Muslims were not
permitted to be closer than 200 yards
away to the site; the main gate remained
locked, though Hindu pilgrims were
allowed to enter through a side door. The
1986 Allahabad High Court ordered the
opening of the main gate and restored
the site in full to the Hindus. Hindu
groups later requested modifications to
the Babri Mosque, and drew up plans for
a new grand Temple with Government
permissions; riots between Hindu and
Muslim groups took place as a result.
Since then, the matter is sub-judice and
this political, historical and socio-
religious debate over the history and
location of the Babri Mosque, is known
as the Ayodhya dispute.

Excavations

Archaeological excavations by the

Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in
1970, 1992 and 2003 in and around the
disputed site have clearly found the
evidence indicating that a large Hindu
complex existed on the site.[65] In 2003,
by the order of an Indian Court, The
Archaeological Survey of India was
asked to conduct a more indepth study
and an excavation to ascertain the type
of structure that was beneath the rubble
indicated definite proof of a temple under
the mosque.[66] However, it could not be
ascertained if it was a Rama temple as
remnant had more resemblance to a
Shiva temple.[66] In the words of ASI
researchers, they discovered "distinctive
features associated with... temples of
north India". Excavations further yielded:
stone and decorated bricks as
well as mutilated sculpture of a
divine couple and carved
architectural features, including
foliage patterns, amalaka,
kapotapali, doorjamb with semi-
circular shrine pilaster, broke
octagonal shaft of black schist
pillar, lotus motif, circular
shrine having pranjala
(watershute) in the north and 50
pillar bases in association with
a huge structure[67]
Before the archaeological opinion was
published, there were some differing
viewpoints. In his Communal History and
Rama's Ayodhya, written prior to the ASI
researches, Professor Ram Sharan
Sharma writes, "Ayodhya seems to have
emerged as a place of religious
pilgrimage in medieval times. Although
chapter 85 of the Vishnu Smriti lists as
many as fifty-two places of pilgrimage,
including towns, lakes, rivers, mountains,
etc., it does not include Ayodhya in this
list.[68] Sharma also notes that Tulsidas,
who wrote the Ramcharitmanas in 1574
at Ayodhya, does not mention it as a
place of pilgrimage. This suggests that
there was no significant Hindu temple at
the site of the Babri Mosque, or that it
had ceased to be one, after the mosque
was built. After the demolition of the
mosque in 1992, Professor Ram Sharan
Sharma along with historians Suraj Bhan,
M. Athar Ali and Dwijendra Narayan Jha
wrote the Historian's report to the nation
saying that the assumption that there
was a temple at the disputed site was
mistaken, and that there was no valid
reason to destroy the mosque.[69] One of
the judges of the Allahabad High Court in
2010 criticised the independent experts
who had appeared on behalf of the Sunni
Waqf Board including Suvira Jaiswal,
Supriya Verma, Shireen F Ratnagar and
Jaya Menon. The witnesses withered
under scrutiny and were discovered to
have made "reckless and irresponsible
kind of statements". He also pointed out
that the independent witnesses were all
connected, while adding that their
opinions were offered without making a
proper investigation, research or study
into the subject.[70]

Udit Raj's Buddha Education Foundation

claimed that the structure excavated by
ASI in 2003 was a Buddhist stupa
destroyed during and after the Muslim
invasion of India.[71]

Title cases
In 1950, Gopal Singh Visharad filed a title
suit with the Allahabad High Court
seeking injunction to offer 'puja'
(worship) at the disputed site. A similar
suit was filed shortly after but later
withdrawn by Paramhans Das of
Ayodhya.[72] In 1959, the Nirmohi Akhara,
a Hindu religious institution,[73] filed a
third title suit seeking direction to hand
over the charge of the disputed site,
claiming to be its custodian. A fourth suit
was filed by the Muslim Central Board of
Wakf for declaration and possession of
the site. The Allahabad high court bench
began hearing the case in 2002, which
was completed in 2010. However, the
bench withheld its verdict till 24
September. After the Supreme Court
dismissed a plea to defer the High Court
verdict, the High Court set 30 September
2010 as the final date for pronouncing
the judgement.[74]

On 30 September 2010, the High Court of

Allahabad, the three-member bench
comprising justices S. U. Khan, Sudhir
Agarwal and D. V. Sharma, ruled that the
disputed land be split into three parts.
The site of the Ramlala idol would go to
the party representing Ram Lalla
Virajman (the installed Infant Ram deity),
Nirmohi Akhara to get Sita Rasoi and
Ram Chabutara, and the Sunni Wakf
Board to get the rest. The court also
ruled that the status quo should be
maintained for three months.[75][76]

Reacting to the verdict, all the three

parties announced that they would
appeal against the division of disputed
land in the Supreme Court of India.[77][78]
All the three parties, however, conceded
that this judgment was an important step
towards the resolution of a long-standing
dispute. The Supreme Court has set the
date 8 February 2018 for the final hearing
on the case.[79][80]

Timeline
Year Date Event[81][82]

During the reign of Babur, the first Mughal emperor, some have claimed
1527 that an old Hindu temple was demolished, and a mosque constructed
at the same place in Ayodhya and named after Babur.

1853 The first recorded communal clashes over the site date to this year.

The colonial British administration put a fence around the site,

1859 denominating separate areas of worship for Hindus and Muslims. That
is how it stood for about 90 years.

Idols were placed inside the mosque. Both sides to the dispute filed
civil suits. The government locked the gates, saying the matter was
1949 December
sub judice and declared the area disputed. The civil suits were filed for
ownership of the Plot no 583 of the area.

Case filed in Indian courts against forceful occupation of the Babri

1961
Mosque and placing of idols within it.

The movement to build a temple at the site, which Hindus claimed was
the birthplace of Lord Ram, gathered momentum when Hindu groups
1984
formed a committee to spearhead the construction of a temple at the
Ramjanmabhoomi site.

A district judge ordered the gates of the mosque to be opened after

almost five decades and allowed Hindus to worship inside the
1986 “disputed structure.” A Babri Mosque Action Committee was formed as
Muslims protested the move to allow Hindu prayers at the site. The
gates were opened in less than an hour after the court decision.

The clamour for building a Ram temple was growing. In February, VHP
proclaimed that a Shila or a stone will be established for construction
of temple near the area. In November, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad laid
1989 foundations of a temple on land adjacent to the "disputed structure" in
presence of Home Minister Sh Boota Singh and then Chief Minister Sh
ND Tiwari. There were sporadic clashes in the country such as
Bhagalpur in Bihar.

1990 Sh V P Singh became the Prime Minister of India with support of BJP
which had won 58 seats in the election, a massive improvement from
its last tally of 2 seats. The then BJP president Lal Krishna Advani took
out a cross-country rathyatra to garner support for the move to build a
Ram temple at the site. On 23 October, he was arrested in Bihar during
the yatra, following which BJP took back its support to the
 government. Sh Chandrashekhar became the Prime Minister of India
with support of the Congress. On October 30, many were gunned down
by the police on orders of the then Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
Mulayam Singh Yadav, when they gathered in Ayodhya as participants
of the Rath-Yatra; their bodies were thrown in the river
Saryu.[83][84][85][86]

Congress came to power at center after elections in 1991, while BJP

became major opposition party in center and came to power in many
states such as Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and
Uttar Pradesh. Kalyan Singh became the Chief Minister of Uttar
Pradesh. State government acquired 2.77 acre land in the area and
1991
gave it on lease to RamJanmBhoomi Nyas Trust. The Allahbad High
Court stopped any permanent construction activity in the area. Kalyan
Singh publicly supported the movement while Central Government took
no action to curb the increasing tensions. In spite of the High Court
judgement, disputed area was leveled.

Kalyan Singh took steps to support the movement such as making

entry into area easier, promising no firing on Karsevaks, opposing
decision of central government to send Central Police force in the area,
etc. In July, several thousand Karsevaks assembled in the area and the
work for maintenance of temple started. This activity was stopped
after intervention of the prime minister. Meetings started between
Babri Masjid Action Committee and VHP leaders in presence of the
home minister. On 30 October, Dharam Sansad of VHP proclaimed in
1992 Delhi that the talks have failed and Karseva will presume from 6
December. Central Government was considering the deployment of
central police forces in the area and dissolution of state government
but in the end decided against it. The case was being heard in the
Supreme Court which told that State Government is responsible for
ensuring law and order in the area. The government was discussing it
in Cabinet Committee meeting and Rashtriya Ekta Parishad. BJP
boycotted the Parishad. The Allahbad High Court was hearing the
matter of legality of structure of foundation laid in 1989.

The Babri Mosque was demolished by a gathering of near 200,000

1992 6 December
Karsevaks. Communal riots across India followed.

Ten days after the demolition, the Congress government at the Centre,
1992 16 December headed by PV Narasimha Rao, set up a commission of inquiry under
Justice Liberhan.
1993 Three months after being constituted, the Liberhan Commission began
investigations into who and what led to the demolition of the Babri
Mosque.

Tensions rose on the anniversary of the demolition of the mosque as

2001
the VHP reaffirmed its resolve to build a temple at the site.

At least 58 people were killed in Godhra, Gujarat, in an attack on a train

believed to be carrying Hindu volunteers from Ayodhya. Riots followed
2002 27 February
in the state and over 2000 people were unofficially reported to have
died in these.

The court ordered a survey to find out whether a temple to Lord Ram
2003 existed on the site. In August, the survey presented evidence of a
temple under the mosque. Muslim groups disputed the findings.

A court ruled that seven Hindu leaders, including some prominent BJP
2003 September leaders, should stand trial for inciting the destruction of the Babri
Mosque.

An Uttar Pradesh court ruled that an earlier order which exonerated LK

2004 November Advani for his role in the destruction of the mosque should be
reviewed.

The Supreme Court refused to admit a review petition on the Ayodhya

2007
dispute.

The Liberhan Commission, which was instituted ten days after the
demolition of the Babri Mosque in 1992, submitted its report on 30
2009
June — almost 17 years after it began its inquiry. Its contents were not
made public.

The Allahabad High Court pronounces its verdict on four title suits
relating to the Ayodhya dispute on 30 September 2010. Ayodhya land
2010 30 September to be divided into three parts. 1/3 goes to Ram Lalla represented by
Hindu Maha Sabha, 1/3 to Sunni Wakf Board, 1/3 goes to Nirmohi
Akhara.[87]

The Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha and Sunni Waqf Board moved to
2010 December the Supreme Court of India, challenging part of the Allahabad High
Court’s verdict.[88][89]

Supreme Court of India stayed the High Court order splitting the
disputed site in three parts and said that status quo will remain. The
2011 9 May
two judge bench of Supreme Court remarked that the High Court ruling
was surprising as no party wanted a split of the site.
2017 5 December Supreme Court of India Full bench headed by headed by Chief Justice
Dipak Mishra and comprising Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice
Abdul Nazar has set 8 February 2018 as the date for final hearing on
the case [80]

See also
Ram ke Naam - a documentary on the
Ayodhya dispute by Anand Patwardhan
Conversion of non-Muslim places of
worship into mosques
Islam and other religions
Temple Mount - similarly disputed
location in Jerusalem

Notes
1. Indologist Hans T. Bakker has named
the five temples as follows: Vishnu Hari
temple at the Chakratirtha ghat, Harismriti
temple at the Gopratara ghat, Chandra
Hari temple on the west side of the
Svargadwara ghat, Dharma Hari temple on
the east side of the Svargadwara ghat,
and a Vishnu temple at the Ram
Janmabhoomi site. One of these temples
was swept away by the Sarayu river, the
fate of another (Harismiriti tmeple) is
unknown, but the other three were
replaced by mosques, including the
temple at the Janmabhoomi, according to
Bakker.[16]
2. Sources cited by Harsh Narain:
Karim, Maulvi Abdul (1885). Tarikh-i
Parnia Madinatul Awliya [History of
Parnia city of Sufis] (in Persian).
Lucknow.
 Ghaffar, Maulvi Abdul (1981) [first
published prior to 1932].
Gumgamashtah Halat-i Ajodhya
[Forgotten Events of Ayodhya] (in
Urdu). Lucknow: Nami Press.
Sita Ram, Avadh-vasi Lala (1932).
Ayodhya ka Itihasa [History of
Ayodhya] (in Hindi). Allahabad.

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Further reading
Bajaj, Jitendra, ed. (1993). Ayodhya and
the Future of India. Madras: Centre for
Policy Studies.
Dubashi, Jay (1992). The Road to
Ayodhya. Delhi: South Asia Books.
Elst, Koenraad (1990). Ram
Janmabhoomi Vs Babri Masjid. New
Delhi: Voice of India.
Elst, Koenraad (1991). Ayodhya and
after: issues before Hindu society .
Voice of India.
Elst, Koenraad (2002). Ayodhya: The
Case Against the Temple . Voice of
India. ISBN 9788185990750.
Engineer, Asghar Ali, ed. (1990). Babri
Masjid Ramjanambhumi Controversy.
Delhi: Ajanta Publications.
Hassner, Ron E. (2009). War on Sacred
Grounds . Ithaca: Cornell University
Press.
Jain, Meenakshi The Battle for Rama:
Case of the Temple at Ayodhya (Aryan
Books International, 2017),
ISBN 8173055793.
Lal, B. B. (2008). Rāma, His Historicity,
Mandir, and Setu: Evidence of
Literature, Archaeology, and Other
Sciences . Aryan Books. ISBN 978-81-
7305-345-0.
Nath, R. (1990). Babari Masjid of
Ayodhya. Jaipur: The Historical
Research Documentation program.
Nandy, A.; Trivedy, S.; Mayaram, S.;
Yagnik, Achyut (1998). Creating a
Nationality: The Ramjanmabhumi
Movement and Fear of the Self. Oxford
University Press. ISBN 0-19-564271-6.
Rajaram, N. S. (2000). Profiles in
Deception: Ayodhya and the Dead Sea
Scrolls. New Delhi: Voice of India.
Sharma, Ram Sharan, ed. (1999).
Communal History and Rama's Ayodhya
(2nd ed.). Delhi: People's Publishing
House.
Srivastava, Sushil (1991). Disputed
Mosque, A historical inquiry. New Delhi:
Vistaar Publication.
Arun Shourie, Arun Jaitley, Swapan
Dasgupta, Rama J Jois: The Ayodhya
Reference: Supreme Court Judgement
and Commentaries. 1995. New
Delhi:Voice of India. ISBN 978-
8185990309
Arun Shourie, Sita Ram Goel, Harsh
Narain, Jay Dubashi and Ram Swarup.
Hindu Temples - What Happened to
Them Vol. I, (A Preliminary Survey)
(1990) ISBN 81-85990-49-2
Thacktson, Wheeler M., ed. (1996).
Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince
and Emperor. New York and London:
Oxford University Press.
Thapar, Romila (2000). "A Historical
Perspective on the Story of Rama". In
Thapar, Romila. Cultural Pasts: Essays
in Early Indian History. New Delhi:
Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-
564050-0.
Varma, Thakur Prasad; Gupta,
Swarajya Prakash. Ayodhya ka Itihas
evam Puratattva — Rigveda kal se ab
tak (History and Archaeology of
Ayodhya— From the Time of the
Rigveda to the Present) (in Hindi). New
Delhi: Bharatiya Itihasa evam Samskrit
Parishad and DK Printworld.
 History versus Casuistry: Evidence of
the Ramajanmabhoomi Mandir
presented by the Vishwa Hindu
Parishad to the Government of India in
December-January 1990-91. New
Delhi: Voice of India.

External links
Nirmohi Akhara ready for out-of-court
settlement – TCN News
Ram Janmabhoomi Babri Masjid –
Ayodhya Bench: Gist of Judgments at
Allahabad High Court
Aswathy (6 December 2013). "Babri
Masjid demolition: A timeline" . One
India. Retrieved 2014-12-06.
 Emmanuel, Dominic (27 August 2003).
"The Mumbai bomb blasts and the
Ayodhya tangle" . National Catholic
Reporter. Retrieved 2014-12-07.

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