‘Aurangzeb, not Babur, demolished Ram temple’

The demolition of the Ram temple in Ayodhya and subsequent building of the Babri mosque happened during the reign of Aurangzeb in 1660, long after the demise of the first Mughal king Babur, who is generally believed to have razed the Hindu temple, according to a new book Ayodhya Revisited.

The book written by Kishore Kunal, an IPS officer of 1972 (Gujarat cadre) batch, who was also the Officer on Special Duty, Ayodhya in the Ministry of Home Affairs in 1992, has a foreword from former Chief Justice of India, G.B. Patnaik. Patnaik has mentioned that the book establishes the fact that Babur practised religious tolerance and was not a fanatic. Kunal had taken voluntary retirement from service eight years ahead of his scheduled retirement to build the world’s tallest Ram temple in Champaran.

As OSD (Ayodhya) in the MHA, he had played a vital role in trying to resolve the Ram Mandir dispute and it was this experience that came in handy for him in translating several documents and manuscripts related to Ayodhya. Kunal, while speaking to The Sunday Guardian, recalled that on the evening of 6 December 1992 when the news of Babri demolition was conveyed to the then Prime Minister P. V Narasimha Rao, he quipped, “Sab Hanumanji ki kripa hai.”