Ayodhya dispute
Also called: Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute · Topic: Recent Developments in Indian Politics: Coalitions, Mandal and a New Consensus · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 8 "Recent Developments in Indian Politics"
Meaning
The Ayodhya dispute was a long fight over a site in Ayodhya. A three-dome mosque, the Babri Masjid, was built there in 1528, at a place many Hindus believe is Ram's birthplace. The dispute shaped the BJP's rise and the national debate on secularism.
Example
- 1949: Idols were placed inside the structure, and it was then sealed.
- 1986: A Faizabad court ordered the locks opened.
- 6 December 1992: The structure was demolished.
- 9 November 2019: In M. Siddiq v. Mahant Suresh Das, the Supreme Court ruled 5-0 and gave the site to a trust for a temple. Using Art. 142, its special power to do "complete justice", it gave five acres elsewhere in Ayodhya for a mosque. It called the 1949 and 1992 acts illegal.
Don't confuse with
- Ram Janmabhoomi movement: this was the campaign led by the VHP from the mid-1980s to build a temple at the site. The Ayodhya dispute is the wider legal and political conflict over who owns the site.