1990; October 30–November 2: Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh)

Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh: Mulayam Singh Yadav, Janata Dal, December 1989–June 1991

On October 30, kar sevaks (Hindu religious volunteers) tried to assault the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh). The chief minister of the state, Mulayam Singh Yadav, gave firm orders that they should be prevented from doing so. The police opened fire. Twenty-six kar sevaks were killed. Immediately after, on October 30, to take revenge for the new «Hindu martyrs», outbreaks of anti-Muslim violence occurred in several places (Baroda, Ahmedabad, and Indore, Uttar Pradesh, and in Bihar on November 1 and 2), claiming dozens of lives. The Uttar Pradesh state government had to impose a curfew on more than thirty towns. The VHP then managed to capitalize on the event by organizing Asthi Kalash Yatras (processions carrying the ashes and bones of the «martyrs») throughout the country. These processions left another bloody trail of communal riots behind them.

***(Jaffrelot 1996: 422); **(India Today 15/12/1990)