Ayodhya, 22-23 December, 1949. This is the untold story of that fateful night, when a small group of religious activists stole into the Babri Masjid to place an idol of Ramlalla under the main dome, the night that shaped India’s modern political history. This is the testimony of the few who survive to tell the tale.
The VHP’s call to a Hindu ‘awakening’. Mob violence in Uttar Pradesh. Fearful minorities. The Ramjanambhoomi Movement is back. Whether it will work is less certain.
With a nod from the Congress, an RJD leader rebels against Lalu Prasad. This is an event that reveals a somewhat unsettling aspect of the grand old party’s gameplan to win Bihar.
TCA Raghavan is a former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan and Singapore. His first book, Attendant Lords: Abdur Rahim and Bairam Khan: Courtiers and Poets in Mughal India, was awarded the Mohammad Habib Prize by the Indian History Congress. He is also the author of The People Next Door: The Curious History of India’s Relations with Pakistan and History Men: Jadunath Sarkar, G S Sardesai, Raghubir Sinh and Their Quest for India’s Past. His latest book is Circles of Freedom: Love, Friendship and Loyalty in the Indian National Struggle