MY BLOG: 2013

6 December 1992 bhulbar din na . Oi din uttarpradesh r Ayodhya teRamjanamabhoomi-Babri Masjid niye holo riot.

Sedin kaar ghatona
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6 a.m. The steady stream of kar sevaks and journalists start arriving at the disputed shrine. Straddling the security wall were PAC constables armed with batons and RSS volunteers with armbands. Overnight, additional barricades encircling the 2.77acre plot had been erected. Most of the mediapersons gather around the platform constructed during the July kar seva, instead of the roof-top of Manas Bhavan, the official press enclosure.
10 a.m. Sadhus, mahants and various leaders including Advani and BJP President Murli Manohar Joshi arrive at the platform to review the arrangements for the 'symbolic' kar seva.
10.30 a.m. VHP and BJP leaders move to the dais at the Ram Katha Kunj, 200 yards away from the designated kar seva site, where they are scheduled to address a public meeting. The objective was to avoid the angry crowd building up at the kar seva site. Within a matter of minutes, small but defiant groups of kar sevaks start pushing at the security cordon surrounding the main entrance to the disputed area. The PAC jawans and RSS volunteers struggle to hold back the crowds.
11 a.m. The first of the kar sevaks break through the cordon. Within seconds, a few more follow as the barricades are breached in three places directly in front of the shrine. Solitary and shrill shouts of "Mandiryahin banayenge" (We'll build the temple at this very spot) puncture the atmosphere. The police are standing idle, but the RSS volunteers in charge of security continue to try and stop the kar sevaks, chasing them and even physically removing them from the secured platform area. Among the throng of mediapersons there is nervous laughter at the comical sight.
11.15 a.m. The kar sevaks had breached the barricades in at least half a dozen places but there is still no definite indication of an impending storm. Faizabad Superintendent of Police, D.B. Rai, tells the media contingent: "It is all under control. Go and relax, you are only wasting your time." So it seems.
11.35 a.m. The sadhus, headed by Mahant Paramhans and Nrit Gopal Das, are scheduled to start a puja ceremony on the newly-built platform. But elsewhere, the floodgates have opened. Towards the rear of the disputed structure, 50-odd kar sevaks slither across the security wall. As RSS volunteers and PAC personnel try to stop them, a hail of stones thrown by the crowds outside start raining down, providing effective cover to the handful of intruders.
11.40 a.m. A teenager scales the protective steel railing like a circus acrobat and, despite the steep angle, reaches the top of one of the three domes. The brickbatting becomes heavier and the police abandon their posts around the disputed structure. This provides the signal for hundreds of kar sevaks to break the outer cordon and charge towards the structure waving pickaxes, hammers, shovels and iron rods.
11.43 a.m. Three kar sevaks reach the base of the middle dome with a grappling hook attached to a long rope. After a couple of failed attempts, the trio manage to anchor the hook to a protruding iron rod atop the dome. As if they were trained mountaineers, they clamber up the rope and arrive at the top of the dome. It is 11.50 a.m. The mania that is to overwhelm them all has begun.
11.55 a.m. H. V. Seshadri, RSS general secretary appeals to the defiant kar sevaks in at least four or five different languages to stop the demolition and destruction. No one listens to him. His voice is barely audible over the chants of the crowd. Neither are the subsequent appeals issued by Advani and Singhal. The leaders have become the led.
12.05 p.m. All three domes are submerged under hundreds of kar sevaks carrying saffron flags which are victoriously planted on two of the domes. Hundreds more start attacking the base of the structure with pickaxes and iron rods. By now, the crowds have swarmed all over the site of the disputed structure, shouting in triumph and urging on the demolition squads. Clouds of dust envelop the turmoil below as the sea of saffron spreads all over like a victorious army. Senior officials of the Uttar Pradesh government, magistrates and police officers watch helplessly from the roof of a building on the western side of the disputed shrine. On other roof-tops, women kar sevaks wave saffron flags in encouragement and exultation.
12.15 p.m. Kar sevaks, wielding huge blacksmith's hammers, start the final onslaught on the three domes. Elsewhere, as if by pre-arranged strategy, kar sevaks start targeting journalists and photographers, beating them up and smashing their cameras. The frenzied and deliberate attack is unprecedented, leaving many with blood streaming from deep gashes, women with their clothes ripped and others with their purses snatched. The objective of terrorising mediapersons was clearly to prevent photographs being taken of the frenzied demolition operation.
12.25 p.m. The leaders make a desperate attempt to control the crowds. An announcement over the loudspeaker asks the kar sevaks to come back. It has no effect. A distraught Advani turns to Uma Bharati and asks her to make an appeal: "Ram bhakton se meri appeal hai ki kar seva ka samay hogaya. Aap apna netritwa ka palan karein aur wapas aajayen" (As the time for kar seva has passed, I appeal to the Ram bhakts to listen to their leaders and come back). As expected, the appeal goes unheeded. Instead, there is a clamour of voices, directing the kar sevaks to rush to the dome with chisels, hammers and sickles.
1.55 p.m. The first dome collapses in a cloud of dust along with approximately 25 kar sevaks who are buried in the debris. They are quickly extricated and press vehicles are forcibly comandeered to rush them m to the hospital.
3 p.m. Sadhvi Rithambara starts singing and dancing and, as if in a trance, repeats over and over again a mesmeric exhortation: "Ekdhakkaaurdo, BabriMasjid tor do" (Give another shove, and tear down the mosque). A village lad from Kanpur district rushes past with a piece of brick held aloft like a trophy. "These are Babar's bones," he shouts in unholy glee.
3.30 p.m. The second dome gives way under the ferocity of the onslaught. Only the central dome remains, surviving precariously with the two huge cavities on either side of its base visible clearly from even a mile away.
4 p.m. Further demolition is temporarily halted as local sadhus escort Mahant Paramhans to what remains of the sanctum sanctorum. The Ram Lalla idol placed there earlier is reverentially removed under the haze of dust that hangs in the surcharged air. Mingling with the dust are huge columns of smoke from spots where maddened kar sevaks have set fire to a couple of mosques and half-a-dozen Muslim houses in Ayodhya town.
4.15 p.m. Two poles are erected just outside the outer wall of the remaining dome. A huge stone boulder is placed over the spot from where the idols have been removed in order to mark it exactly.
4.49 p.m. Kar sevaks form a human chain and use long wooden poles to repeatedly attack at the base of the middle dome from two sides until it comes crashing down. VHP activists celebrate by taking out a procession.
A red cloud of dust settles on the rubble, all that remains of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid shrine. And, all that remains of the myth of Hindu tolerance.
Sedin ja hoyechilo amara bhulte chai . Aamra chai na oi din abar fire aasuk.

MY BLOG

Thursday, 5 December 2013

6 th December 1992

Amar Swapno