THE DEMOLITION AND THE VERDICT AYODHYA AND THE PROJECT TO RECONFIGURE INDIA

DescriptionThe Ram temple issue has been at the epicentre of Indian politics since the mid1980s. The question-’mandir or masjid’- dominated political discourse withoutan apparent resolution - until the Supreme Court delivered its judgement on 9November 2019. The 5-member bench in a unanimous verdict gave the ownershipof the 2.77 acres of disputed land to the Ram Janmabhoomi trust, and ordered itto build a temple on the site. Though an alternative five acres of land was awardedto the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board to build a mosque to replace the demolishedmasjid, the scales were clearly tilted in favour of the Hindu petitioners, and as manycommentators noted, the judges had in effect legitimized what they themselves hadcalled a ’criminal act’.This unprecedented, comprehensive book looks at the key moments in the RamJanmabhoomi agitation, from the events of 1949, Rajiv Gandhi’s ’unlocking of thegates’ in 1986, L K Advani’s Rath Yatra in 1990, the demolition of the masjid in1992, culminating in an in-depth analysis of the 9 November judgement. It gives anobjective analysis of the core issue: was the mosque actually built by Babur, and didthere exist a Ram temple?More importantly, the book examines how the Ram Janmabhoomi agitationpropelled the BJP from being a marginal political party into becoming the dominantpolitical force today. Mukhopadhyay analyses how politics over the Ram templesecured support for the militant Hindu nationalistic idea and assesses the road aheadfor India and the long-term implications of the imminent construction of the Ramtemple. 3