25 + 1 must read books - XXVI

I was in two minds on posting this book considering the sensitivity of the subject. Considering the influence of this subject on the  Indian population and political scenario, I finally decided to post it

Ayodhya

The Dark Night

    

In the night of December 22, 1949 a small statue of Lord Rama miraculously appeared in the centuries-old Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. That set off a political, and occasional religious, confrontation the tremors of which are felt to this day.

While one group claimed that the idol had appeared as a miraculous manifestation, the authors demonstrate that far from being a miracle, the appearance of the idol in the mosque was the outcome of a diabolical game of power and politics

The authors have painstakingly pieced together the events of that ‘dark night’ through first-hand interviews with surviving eye-witnesses and others associated with the protagonists; and, from archival material. 

While an immigrant from Bihar in search of livelihood, Abhiram Das, becomes the front man for implanting the idol, the real powers behind the episode remain regrettably unestablished. Though the Authors point their fingers at a particular organisation, proof of its involvement is thin. 

The authors contend that “the surreptitious occupation of the Babri Masjid was an act planned by almost the same set of people” who plotted the assassination of the Mahatma. “In both instances, the conspirators belonged to the Hindu Mahasabha leadership ... their objective this time too was to wrest the political centre stage from the Congress by provoking large-scale Hindu mobilisation in the name of Lord Rama”. However the heat on the Mahasabha leaders post assassination of Mahatma, had compelled the plotters to work covertly. 

Ayodhya: The Dark Night is a journalist’s, account of the happenings that changed the course of Indian political history.

The book is non fiction but is fast paced and reads like a fictional thriller.


Namaste



Prabir