The remark by Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav that the Congress was also responsible for the demolition of the Babri structure holds water. But he too is equally to be blamed.

It is true that Mr. Rajiv Gandhi had the lock of the disputed structure opened to cash in on the Hindu votes. However, he could not take advantage of this as Mr. V. P. Singh split from the Congress party and before the next elections Mr. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated.

Mr. L K Advani launched his rath yatra during the government of Mr. V. P. Singh to counter his move to implement the Mandal commission report.

Mr. Singh had advised Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav, who was the CM of Bihar then, not to stop Mr. Advani as it would create law & order problem. However, Mr. Yadav, to show his one-up-man-ship, had Mr. L. K. Advani arrested and thereby gave the BJP all the publicity it needed.

When Mr. Narasimha Rao was the PM, the movement for the Ram temple was at its height. Rao knew very well that the structure may be destroyed but did not take any action. He waited for the structure to be raised and then used this issue to dismiss the BJP governments in 3 states. This was a selfish move to gain short term political advantage by sacrificing the national peace and harmony.

So, it’s not just the Congress party who is to be blamed for the demolition of the Babri structure but Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav too had an important role in turning a small issue in to a very big and controversial matter that it has become today. Had he not stopped Mr. Advani, perhaps the BJP would not have become so popular and had Mr. V. P. Singh not brought out the genie of Mandal, the Ram temple issue may have remained bottled. And if Mr. Narasimha Rao had shown prudence, the protesters would have never reached the disputed site in Ayodhya.