The Babri story as told by a Kar Sevak

The year was 1992 and the RSS, capitalising on the mood created by senior BJP leader, L K Advani's rath yatra of 1990, organised a rally of Kar Sevaks at the site of the disputed Babri Masjid  in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. Like other Kar Sevaks, who in response boarded trains from across the country for Ayodhya,  Mr Ranga Baddi, a former corporator of the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation and former chairman of NGEF, Hubballi, too boarded a train  for the holy city, believed to be the birthplace of Lord Ram. He recalls the journey and all that transpired next:

"It was exactly a week before that I and a 160 to 170 strong contingent, including former BJP MLA of Hubballi city, Ashok Katwe set off for Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh in response to a call given by our leaders for Kar Seva.

The entire country was talking about the Ayodhya issue and all roads  led to the holy shrine. We left for Pune by  train to catch another train to Itarsi. But the  railway officers and the police in Pune  refused to allow us to board the train. and gave in only after we threatened to hold a rail roko . After that we were not stopped  till we reached Itarsi and then finally, Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Ram, on Dec 3."    

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad had put up thousands of tents in the small town, allotting some for each state. Our tent was just about one -and- a -half-kilometers from the disputed site. We saw a steady flow of Kar Sevaks from across the country arriving, wearing big tilaks, carrying trishuls in their hands, and raising slogans of 'Jai Sri Ram.' Within two days over a lakh had gathered in the town, outnumbering even the UP police.

On December 6, at around 10 am, sants from across the country began giving inflammatory speeches while the police stood around like mute spectators as they could to do nothing in the face of the thousands assembled. Soon a large number of Kar Sevaks armed with pick axes, sickles and other instruments broke the metal barricades and surged forward. Seeing the emotionally charged youth, the cops fled and by noon hundreds of Kar Sevaks had scaled the disputed structure and begun demolishing it. We saw the demolition of the Babri Masjid from our tents, but could move no further as the Kar Sevaks from north India were too large in number. Some were clearing the bricks and mortar and some carrying them away as memorabilia. There was no sign of the cops anywhere near the structure despite deployment of a large posse of police and paramilitary forces in the town.

This continued till 12:30 am when the whole structure was pulled down. At 3 am a temporary tent was put up in place of the masjid, symbolising the beginning of temple construction. Women from Hubballi were called near the tent to offer puja and other rituals. As I had accompanied them, I too went near the spot and offered prayers. After this the Kar Sevaks started returning to their respective states. When we decided to return, all trains were full and we had to stand for hours on the way to Itarsi. There was nothing available to eat because of the curfew. Soon reports of communal clashes began to come in from many cities across the country and curfew was clamped. From Itarsi, we reached Pune and then  Hubballii."