Babri Masjid Demolition: A Point of Departure, and of Arrival

Three decades of a 75-year-old nation’s existence is just a little less than half of our existence as a constitutional republic.1 Barely five months into our bloodied birth, racked by the divisions and hate that led to violence and Partition, we had suffered a grievous jolt: the cold-blooded and calculated assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on the evening of 30 January 1948. This was the first declaration of intent by the far right. What such forces believed was the ‘most dangerous path’ for India to embark on; for them, India should have been born a theocracy, an autocratic state, and must become one.