Senior BJP leader and former Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria has claimed that the demolition of Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992 cleared the way for the construction of a grand Ram temple at Ayodhya.
The leader, who was present near Babri Masjid on that day, in an exclusive interview with IANS, spoke about what was the situation in Ayodhya at that time, why people suddenly started demolishing the Babri Masjid when the programme was only for symbolic kar seva.
Here are some excerpts.
Q. In what role and responsibility you were present in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992?
A. I was present near Babri Masjid on that day... Prior to that I had served as a Rajasthan Lok Sabha MP and many times as state MLA, but faced defeat in the 1991 Lok Sabha polls, so on December 6, 1992, I was neither MP or MLA, but as a dedicated party worker was in Ayodhya for performing symbolic kar seva.
Q. At that time, your senior party leaders were claiming that the plan was only for symbolic kar seva, then why did people suddenly climb atop Babri Masjid and start demolishing it?
A. People had supressed anger as they were feeling that they are time and again being called for kar seva but nothing on Mandir(temple) front is being done. They were also unable to forget the time when bullets were fired on Lord Ram devotees during Mulayam Singh Yadav's tenure...
The kar sevaks remembered the sacrifice of people which enraged and incited them and they expressed their anger.
Q. What was the situation in Ayodhya on that day and what people have on their mind?
A. I have told you that people have suppressed anger for years. We had thought that symbolic kar seva would be performed, but frenzied
people climbed atop the Masjid and started hitting it with a hammer.
There was an apprehension that bullets will be fired at the kar sevaks and people will be injured but it was the "bravery" of the then state Chief Minister Kalyan Singh that he did not give shooting orders, due to which precious lives were saved. People who were atop the Babri Masjid demolished it.
Q. You said that people climbed the Babri Masjid in anger and started demolishing it, they were afraid of police firing too...Still?
A. See... that day entire Ayodhya had the same situation. Kar sevaks did not like Babri Masjid and they wanted to demolish it even if they had to sacrifice their life...
They knew that police firing can be ordered and they can lose their life but were not bothered about that and did what they had decided to.
Chaos prevailed after 4-5 hours of the incident. Many people were injured and rushed to hospitals. Many people went missing who was found after a long time.
Q. How do you remember the December 6, 1992 incident?
A: I only remember that day as if Babri Masjid was not demolished, a way for construction of the Ram Temple would not have been cleared.
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