JOIN USBabri Masjid verdict: Leading lights of Ram temple agitations now on margins
They were prime movers of their respective organisations when the Babri mosque was demolished in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, but most of the 32 leaders who were acquitted in the case have moved to the margins of public life.
Of the 49 persons who figured in different FIRs registered by the police after the demolition, 32 are alive to welcome their acquittal by the special CBI Court, while 17 leaders, including Bal Thackeray, Vishnu Hari Dalmia, Ashok Singhal, Giriraj Kishore are no more.
On the stage at Ayodhya on a fateful day were BJP leaders L K Advani, who spearheaded the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, VHP leader Sadhvi Rithambhara, seers Ram Vilas Vedanti, Nritya Gopal Das among others.
Most of the BJP leaders went on to win elections and held their sway by virtue of their positions of power. Advani rose to become the deputy prime minister, while Joshi was the Union Minister for HRD and S&T. Uma Bharti, then a young leader known for her oratorical skills became the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh and held ministerial portfolios in both the Vajpayee and Modi governments.
Former Uttar Pradesh CM Kalyan Singh, who was also acquitted on Wednesday, resigned from the post after the demolition. He was re-elected as chief minister in 1997 and later was the Governor of Rajasthan from 2014-19.
Ram Vilas Vedant was elected to the Lok Sabha twice as a BJP member from Uttar Pradesh in the 1990s.
As the special CBI court read out its verdict 28 years after the incident, most of the dramatis personae have retreated to the sunset of their political careers.
Advani, Joshi, Kalyan Singh, Uma Bharti, Vinay Katiyar have already been relegated to the margins of the BJP since the rise of Narendra Modi.
Sadhvi Ritambhara too has kept a lower profile and busied herself in social work for the upliftment of women and children.
A few in active public life include Sakshi Maharaj, Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, Lallu Singh who are members of the Lok Sabha from UP. Champat Rai, who played a key role in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, is now the vice president of the VHP and also the general secretary of the Trust tasked with building the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.