The long shadow of Babri Masjid

Its demolition was like the original sin and it produced a brute majoritarianism that continues to spread poison

In a few days we will mark the 25th anniversary of Hindutva vandalism. The Babri Masjid, a noble medieval structure, was destroyed despite the solemn and hollow promises of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was campaigning to “shift” it. More than 2,000 Indians were killed in the violence following the demolition, as we punished Muslims for having the mosque pulled down. We continue to live with that violence. Much of the origins of modern terrorism in India, for example, the blasts in Mumbai that followed, we can attribute to the deliberate dividing of communities by the BJP and its