A Crisis In The Making

How a series of events in the 1980s fuelled the Ayodhya agitation

In the 1980s, the Ram Janmabhoomi- Babri Masjid dispute catapulted from a local issue in Faizabad to national centre stage. Politics in other parts of the country, too, was in a churn, with identity-based conflicts rearing their heads. Four major developments in the country coalesced into one, challenging the ruling Congress.

Meenakshipuram, Tamil Nadu, 1981: The first ripples of social churning were felt in February 1981 with a mass conversion in Meenakshipuram, where an estimated 400-800 Dalit families adopted Islam.