The Babri Mosque at Ayodhya was Demolished

 6th December 1992: The Babri mosque at Ayodhya was demolished. 

The 16th century Babri Masjid at Ayodhya was demolished by Kar Sevaks on December 6, 1992, an event that polarised India and led to communal riots in many parts of the country. 

Many Hindus consider Ayodhya to be the holy city where Lord Ram was born. In 1528 one of Mughal emperor Babur's generals erected a mosque that came to be known as the Babri Masjid. Hindu groups believe that a temple of Ram (which was the Ramjanmabhoomi, marking the site where Ram was born) was razed to build the mosque. 

In 1853, conflicting claims over the site led to violence, the first such recorded communal clash of this nature. The British administration fenced the site in 1859, denominating separate worship areas for Hindus and Muslims. For nearly 90 years, it would remain this way. Then, a couple of years after independence idols were put inside the mosque and various religious groups filed civil suits, claiming possession of the site. The government in response locked the gates, said the matter was sub-judice, and declared the area to be 'disputed'.

 In 1984, the movement to build a Ram temple at the site gathered steam, with Hindu groups forming a committee for the purpose. Two years later a district judge ordered the gates of the Babri Masjid to be opened and allowed Hindus to worship inside the disputed structure. In response, the Babri Mosque Action Committee was set up, with Muslims protesting the move to allow Hindu prayers at the site. 

Organizations such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) also started an aggressive campaign in favour of building the temple. In 1989, the foundations of a temple were laid on land near the disputed structure. 

In 1990 BJP president L.K. Advani started a country-wide rath yatra to mobilize support for the Ramjanmabhoomi movement. Attempts to negotiate talks by the prime minister Chandra Shekhar did not make much headway. The BJP, riding high on the success of the rath yatra, became the country's main opposition party in 1991 and formed the government in Uttar Pradesh. 

Several commentators described the events of December 6 as "Shameful" and a "blow to secularism". It was a traumatic time for many Indian Muslims. 

"The Ayodhya movement was nurtured and gained popular acceptance in the backdrop of the Khalistan movement, the insurgency in the Kashmir Valley that led to the ethnic cleansing of the Hindus, and Rajiv Gandhi's reversal of the Shah Bano judgement. Add to this V.P. Singh's cynical Mandalisation of society and a picture of an India where the Hindus were being taken for granted. Ayodhya threw up a Hindu counter challenge to divisive politics."