LK Advani certainly remains chief protagonist of Babri Masjid demolition saga

The Babri Masjid demolition saga certainly has many tales and anecdotes about LK Advani, the chief architect of the 'Ram Janmabhoomi' temple movement.The Supreme Court order on April 19, 2017 restoring 'criminal conspiracy' charge against Mr Advani and others for the now infamous destruction of the 16th century Masjid is actually like completing the full circle - as right from 1989-90 --- the former Deputy Prime Minister remains the chief protagonist of all developments in Ayodhya and "about Ayodhya".

It was Mr Advani's famous Rath Yatra that had first galvanised BJP and RSS cadres and also motivated numerous Hindus across the country towards Hindutva politics -- almost considered a 'pariah' in an era of Left-liberalism of 1980s and 1990s.

First, it brought down the VP Singh ministry -- after Mr Advani was arrested by the then Lalu Prasad government in Bihar. Interestingly, the order of arrest was executed by a civil servant named RK Singh -- who is ironically the BJP MP from Arrah parliamentary seat. Thus, it is not without reason - one can say former Deputy Prime Minister did make a big difference to Indian politics.
The Ayodhya movement and LK Advani’s name can easily go synonymous with each other. According to Mr Advani's friend and longtime compatriot in national politics, George Fernandes, "not an usual run-of-the-mill politician  Lal (George used to address LK Advani as Lal) had actually found his “political roots in Ayodhya’s Ram''.
Mr Fernandes had made the remarks at a media interaction in Ahmedabad in 2002.

illustrious George

But it was Mr Advani -- yet again -- who had resigned as the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha in 1992 when Babri Masjid was destroyed.
Some years later, Mr Advani -- by then also given the title Loh Purush -- had almost committed a harakiri during his trip to Pakistan in 2005 and wherein he had said, the day Babri Masjid was brought down (in 1992) -- "it was saddest day of my life". Even on September 30, 2010 after the verdict of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court - Mr Advani had maintained a statesmanlike stand and said, “What the court has said does not justify the demolition”.The three-bench court order on September 30, 2010 -- had said that a two-thirds portion of the disputed land is to be shared by two Hindu plaintiffs and one-third will be given to the Sunni Muslim Waqf Board.
Aptly, Mr Advani’s statement had come in for appreciation by columnists and observers. 
“This is a clear denunciation and disowning of the crime of 1992 by a top BJP leader than you have heard of the Emergency of 1975 by a top Congress leader,” wrote senior journalist Shekhar Gupta in The Indian Express, October 2, 2010.

But prior to that in 2009, Justice M S Liberhan Commission after an inquiry spanning nearly 17 years, in its voluminous report had maintained: “It cannot be assumed even for a moment that L K Advani, A B Vajpayee or M M Joshi did not know the designs of  the Sangh Parivar" vis-a-vis destructing the Babri Masjid.

Justice Liberhan further had said the three top BJP leaders had constantly “protested their innocence and denounced the events of December 6.”

However, the Commission report had said, ''having analysed many hours of audio and video recordings and having observed the witnesses,  [the commission] is unable to hold even these pseudo-moderates innocent of any wrongdoings".

ends