Ayodhya title suit defined India's politics

Lucknow, Nov 9: The manner in which an issue of civil dispute over a piece of land gradually became one of the most defining aspects of politics in contemporary India.

With the Supreme Court ruling on Saturday that the disputed land at Ayodhya be given to the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas, curtains were drawn on a 70-year legal battle in independent India and 90 years during the British rule.

One of the longest-drawn legal battles in the nation’s history, the Ayodhya issue has created political turmoil in the country starting from mid 1980s after Rajiv Gandhi government ordered to open the lock of the Ramjanambhoomi.

Here is a timeline of how the dispute began and how it gradually moved on to the stage when the Supreme Court delivered the much-awaited verdict.

Babri Masjid was built by Mir Baqi, commander of Mughal emperor Babur in 1528 but the controversy kicked off150 years back during the British regime when in 1857, the year of India’s first struggle of Independence against the British Raj.

However, the seeds of another controversy was sown quietly some 130 km from Lucknow in Faizabad district. The temple town of Ayodhya came under this district. A petition was submitted before the magistrate of Faizabad by Maulvi Muhammad Asghar, the muezzin of Babri Masjid, alleging that the eastern part of the courtyard of the mosque has been forcibly taken over by the Mahant of Hanuman Garhi.