From L K Advani to Gogoi: Significant people behind Ram Temple movement in Ayodhya

The Ayodhya Ram Mandir groundbreaking ceremony marks an era-defining moment in the Indian history, as the decades-long battle finally nears an end.

The path for the movement was paved by prominent personalities, right from the placement of Lord Ram’s idol in the Babri Masjid to the Supreme Court’s landmark verdict.

Mughal Emperor Babur’s commander Mir Baqi built the Babri Masjid, a three-domed mosque, in around 1528, as per orders from the ruler, on the banks of the Sarayu river.

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The dispute over the site of Babri Masjid dates back centuries with Hindus contending that the invading Muslim armies had razed an existing Ram temple to erect the mosque.

Many succeeded and some failed in their attempts in accomplishing their goals in this historic feat. Here’s a look at them:

Lord Ram enters the Masjid:

Mahant Raghubar Das, the saint who is touted by many supporters now for initiating the legal battle, filed a plea in Faizabad district court seeking permission to build a canopy outside the disputed structure in 1885. The court had dismissed his petition. It was this plea that turned the clash into a legal dispute.

In 1949, the idols of Lord Ram were placed inside the mosque. Paramhans Ramchandra Das, a sadhu, was the city president for the Hindu Mahasabha then. Although he was not named an accused in the case, he admitted to The New York Times in 1991 in an interview saying, "I am the very man who put the idol inside the masjid."

Ramchandra Das, filed the second suit on December 5, 1950, by seeking similar reliefs as Visharad. However, it was withdrawn on September 18, 1990. Das was later termed an accused in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case. He passed away in July 2003.

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Gopal Singh Visharad, a Hindu devotee, on January 16, 1950, alleged that he was being prevented by government officials from entering the inner courtyard to worship. He filed the first suit for the rights to worship the idols of Ram Lalla in the Faizabad district court.

The Nirmohi Akhara, a Hindu sect, on December 17, 1959, filed a third suit claiming that its absolute right of managing the affairs of the site and the temple had been impacted by the magistrate's order and sought that the management and charge of the temple and site be handed over to it.

The then Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru wanted the idols to be removed from the premises.

Thereafter, Faizabad’s Deputy Commissioner then, K K Nayar was issued a notice on the matter, but he did not allow removal of idols. He allowed them to remain inside the temple, where the priests were given the consent to perform daily worship. He proposed that the mosque should be attached by excluding both Hindus and Muslims, with the exception of a minimum number of pujaris.

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Subsequently, terming the situation as an emergent one, the Additional City Magistrate of Faizabad-cum-Ayodhya on December 29, 1949, issued an order attaching the disputed site.

The ACM entrusted the site to Priya Datt Ram, chairman of the Municipal Board, who was also appointed as the receiver.

Both the Sunni Wakf Board and the Akhil Bharatiya Ramayana Mahasabha (ABRM) filed civil suits in a local court staking their respective claim to the site. The land was declared to be under dispute, and the gates remained locked.

Ashok Singhal leads the way

The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), under late Ashok Singhal, conceptualised the Ram Janmabhoomi movement in 1984 and began mobilising sadhus and Hindu groups nationwide.

Singhal was a metallurgy engineering graduate from Banaras Hindu University and became a full-time RSS pracharak in 1942.

Singhal, born in Agra on October 2, 1926, was the international working president of the Vishva Hindu Parishad for over 20 years and spearheaded the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi movement.

Also read — Ram Temple bhoomi pujan: Timeline of Ayodhya Ramjanmabhoomi dispute

He adopted an aggressive style in the "karsevak" campaign in the build-up to the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992.

He died on November 17, 2015 at the age of 89, along with two other high-profile accused Giriraj Kishore and Vishnu Hari Dalmia. The proceedings against them have been abated.

"The demise of Ashok Singhal ji is a deep personal loss. He was an institution in himself, whose life was centred around serving the nation," Prime Minister Narendra Modi had tweeted on the leader’s demise.

Union Minister Amit Shah, paying his tributes to Singhal's third death anniversary, said, "His struggle for Ram Janmabhoomi and Ram Sethu movement and awakening the religion was commendable.”

Salil Singhal, the nephew of late VHP leader Ashok Singhal, will be the "yajmaan" (ritual patron) at the ‘bhoomi pujan’ ceremony.

‘Mandir Wahi Banayenge’: Advani against the Yadavs

L K Advani was at the centre of the BJP's rise through the late 80s and early 90s as it rode the movement.

He became the BJP president in 1989 and set the ball rolling for the movement, not wasting any time along with key party leaders such as Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh.

Advani is considered a key figure in the campaign, as his "Ram Rath Yatra" in 1990 from Somnath in Gujarat to Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, to mobilise the masses for building the Ram temple had set things in motion immediately.

As the mob looked up to the veteran BJP leader, before proceeding Advani concluded his speech saying, "Saugandh Ram Ki Khaatein Hain, Mandir Wahi Banayenge (We take a vow in the name of Rama: we will build the temple exactly there).”

The 'Rath Yatra' was to end in Ayodhya on October 30, 1990, but was cut short after the then Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav ordered Advani's arrest in Samastipur, citing the alleged communal tension it had caused.

Many 'karsevaks' were killed in police firing in Ayodhya on the same day, as the then Uttar Pradesh CM Mulayam Singh Yadav used force to stop them from reaching the disputed site.

The Samajwadi Party founder, in an August 2013 Parliament session, claimed that the party office in Lucknow was attacked after the Uttar Pradesh government’s crackdown on the VHP’s yatra.

Hindutva groups put the death toll at over 55 but the police said it was 17.

As the Ram temple wave picked up steam, a considerable section of backward castes warmed up to the BJP, which formed its first government in Uttar Pradesh with Kalyan Singh becoming chief minister in 1991.

The Congress and Babri Masjid’s demolition

The Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992, by ‘karsevaks’, during the tenure of the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao. The shocking event alienated the Muslims, traditional supporters of the Congress, from the party.

Ahead of this, 33 were accused including Kalyan Singh, Advani, Joshi, Uma Bharti, Vinay Katiyar, Sadhvi Rithambara, Sakshi Maharaj, Champat Rai and Ram Vilas Vedanti. A special CBI court in Lucknow completed on July 28, 2020, the recording of statements of the accused.

The post-demolition period was also the toughest time Rao had to face in his tenure as prime minister as knives were out for him from leaders of the Hindi heartland such as Arjun Singh and a few others, who felt that the prime minister was hell-bent on finishing off the Congress in northern India.

Rao, whose tenure saw the government usher in landmark economic reforms, was sidelined by the Congress after the party's loss in the 1996 Lok Sabha elections. Rao died on December 9, 2004, with the Congress even refusing permission to keep his dead body in state at the party headquarters.

Rajiv Gandhi on February 1, 1986, got the permission for starting prayers at the disputed site and got the locks opened. Thereafter, the 'shilanyas puja' was held in 1989, according to the Congress.

Party spokesperson in 2019, claimed that Rajiv Gandhi had also given permission to construct a Ram temple near the mosque and launched his party's campaign for the Lok Sabha and Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections from the state by declaring the establishment of "Ram Rajya" in the country.

Supreme Court’s verdict:

The apex court in a unanimous verdict on November 9, 2019, cleared the way for the construction of a Ram Temple at the disputed site at Ayodhya, and directed the Centre to allot a 5-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a mosque.

In one of the most important and anticipated judgements in India's history, a five-judge Constitution bench headed by the then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi put an end to the more than a century-old dispute that has torn the social fabric of the nation.