Indira Gandhi was assassinated in 1984. But the religious division she left behind in the country... ...began to show its effects. A newly emerging party took advantage of this split. It had two slogans. One was setting up the Ram temple in Ayodhya... ...and the other, ending the special status of Indian-occupied Kashmir to bring it under permanent Indian control. Instead of Secular India, this party actually wanted to practically... ...turn India into a theocratic state i.e. a religious state. This party was Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP. How did the BJP fight the powerful political party Congress... ...and how did it change the direction of the Indian state? I am Faisal Warraich and in Dekho Suno Jano's final episode of the History of India series... ...I will show you all of this. BJP was the political wing of Hindu extremist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). RSS was founded in 1925 long before the independence of India. It pursued Hindutva ideology which plainly meant that India is the homeland of Hindus only. After the independence, the political wing of the RSS was formed as the Jana Sangh Party in 1951. This party launched this movement during the Pandit Nehru era... ...that the special status of Kashmir, given under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, should be abolished. Article 370 as India had accepted Kashmir as a disputed territory in the UN. As such, Kashmir was given special status till the political future of Kashmir was decided. Under Article 370, the Indian Constitution did not apply to Kashmir. The Constitution of Kashmir, its flag, and laws were also separate. Indian citizens did not have the right to live there permanently and buy property. Indian extremist organizations were opposed to it. He believed Kashmir was a part of India... ...therefore the Indian Constitution should apply to it. That is why the Jana Sangh was moving against Article 370. But it did not have public support. In 1980, the leaders of the Jana Sangh decided to change its name to gain public support. That the Party needs to be given a new look. So they renamed the party Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP... ...and started its mass membership. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was elected as its first president. The issue the BJP worked on immediately after its formation was not Kashmir... ...but the construction of Ram temple in place of Babri Masjid. Probably it was the most important issue on which the BJP could build a Hindu nationalist vote bank. The Babri Masjid was located in Ayodhya near Lucknow in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.... and was built by Zahiruddin Babur, the first Mughal emperor of India, in the 16 century. However, a large section of Hindus believed that Lord Rama was born at the site of the mosque... ...and his temple was at this site before the mosque. They alleged Emperor Babur had demolished the same temple and built the Babri Masjid. Hindu extremists wanted to demolish this mosque and build a Ram temple instead as per their faith. Obviously, a majority of India did not believe this claim. Modern Indian historian Ramachandra Guha writes that there is no evidence... ...that Rama, the hero of the Ramayana, was a real historical figure. But in Hindu sentiments and legends, he is considered a historical character. The Hindu-Muslim conflict over the Babri Masjid first arose in 1855... ...when the British ruled. After that riots continued intermittently. This case also went to the English court but it could not finally solve the problem. The British solved it by building a fence in the mosque and dividing it into two parts. Muslims could worship in the main building of the mosque... ...while Hindus were allowed to worship in the compound. This situation remained the same till the independence of India in 1947. But in 1949, two years after independence, the issue became more serious. It happened that one day an idol of Ram appeared inside the mosque. According to Ramachandra, the idol did not appear but was placed with the help of a government official. But it was given currency that the emergence of the idol in the mosque was a miracle. This means that Rama also wants to get his birthplace back. After this idol, the dispute aggravated. The Indian government sealed the mosque as a disputed property to avoid any further problems. Then Muslims were never allowed to worship in it. Between 1950 and 1961, at least four cases were filed in Uttar Pradesh courts on the Babri Masjid. Even in the 1980s, these cases were pending. However, a Hindu extremist organization Vishwa Hindu Parishad launched a Janmabhoomi Movement. The aim of this movement was to demolish the mosque and build a temple on its site. The BJP and its parent RSS became part of this movement from the beginning. BJP contested the elections in 1984 on the slogan of Ram Mandir. However, it did not get any significant success in the election. Because Congress leader Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated a few days earlier in October 84. Therefore, in the December 84 election, the Congress got overwhelming votes of public sympathy. Congress won 404 out of 516 Lok Sabha seats. Indira Gandhi's son Rajiv Gandhi became the Prime Minister from the Congress party. BJP's performance in this election was very disappointing. It secured only two seats. But BJP did not abandon the Janmabhoomi Movement and continued it with full vigour. Then this campaign also got unexpected help from India's state TV Doordarshan. In 1987, Doordarshan made a serial based on the book 'Ramayana' written on Lord Rama by the same name. Comprising 87 episodes this serial was shown on TV for one year. This was the era when TV was becoming a household article in India. Three million TV sets were sold every year. Doordarshan's Ramayana serial was watched by at least 80 million people on TV. This interesting religious serial became very popular. Those who did not have TVs would watch these serials on TV sets in public places. The producers of the Ramayana further accentuated the religious sentiments associated with Rama. By it, the public support for the BJP's Ram Mandir campaign achieved a huge boost. The Ramayana serial ended in 1988. The next year, in 1999, the religious divide over the Ram Mandir issue got acute to lead to Hindu-Muslim riots. Especially in the city of Bhagalpur in Bihar, riots continued for two months. About 1,000 people were killed, 90 percent of them were Muslims. At least 50000 people were displaced in these riots. Amid riots in November 1989, the Hindu extremists performed a special worship (puja) in front of the Babri Masjid. In this puja, many bricks were placed each with the name of Rama written. The extremists wanted these bricks to be used in the construction of the Ram temple. This puja intensified the already continuing Hindu-Muslim riots. During this violence, the support of the BJP also increased fast among the Hindu middle class. But BJP's popularity was not only due to this religious slogan. In those days, the mutual rifts in the ruling party Congress also benefitted it hugely. Because there was a split in the Congress. Rajiv Gandhi's finance minister VP Singh left the party due to political differences. He formed his own party named Janata Dal... ...and came to the fore as a contender of the Congress. Thus the vote bank of Congress was divided. And amid the Bhagalpur riots, the Lok Sabha elections were going to be held at the end of November. The result of the Congress disintegration came to light after the elections. The Congress vote bank was divided. Rajiv Gandhi's Congress won 197 seats while VP Singh's Janata Dal won 142 seats. In the same election, the BJP won 86 seats for the first time and made a mark. Now the BJP was in the position of a kingmaker. The BJP supported Janata Dal against the Congress. Thus VP Singh became the new Prime Minister and BJP ally in the rule. This move was a turning point for the BJP. From this point, the party intensified its campaign to build the Ram temple. The following year in 1990, the BJP took out the 'Ram Rath Yatra',... ...which changed India completely. In 1990, BJP president Lal Kishan Advani started the 'Ram Rath Yatra' for the Ram temple. It was a big rally that had to pass through all the major cities of India and... ...reach the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. On September 25, under the leadership of LK Advani, the BJP in the Indian state of Gujrat... ...started this pilgrimage from the famous Somnath Temple. The rally proceeded to Ayodhya via Mumbai, Hyderabad, Nagpur, and Delhi. There were riots wherever the rally passed through. 100 people were killed during the riots in the state of Gujarat alone. When this rally reached the state of Bihar, Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav took strict action. He arrested LK Advani. He did not allow the rally participants to take any tough action in Bihar. However... ...the Rath Yatra continued to move to Ayodhya without Advani. Even on October 30, thousands of activists entered Ayodhya. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav had announced... ...that no slightest act can happen near the Babri Masjid. He had also deployed 28000 police and paramilitary forces in the city. These personnel were ordered to protect the Babri Masjid at any cost. But the BJP zealots broke the barricades and entered the Babri Masjid... ...and caused severe damage to the mosque. The security forces fired and turned the people out from there. Riots continued in the city for about a week and many were killed. The firing by security forces in Ayodhya and the arrest of Advani were avenged by the BJP... ....on Prime Minister VP Singh. The Party withdrew its support to the government in the Lok Sabha. A no-confidence motion was brought against VP Singh and he was removed. General elections were held the following year from May to June 1991. During the same elections, the Gandhi family also faced another tragedy. Indira Gandhi's son and central Congress leader Rajiv Gandhi was killed in a suicide attack in Tamil Nadu. In 1987, when the civil war was going on in Sri Lanka, he... ...had landed the army to help the government there. Tamil insurgents also launched attacks on the army in which over 1000 Indian soldiers were killed. Due to these attacks, the Indian press termed Sri Lanka the Vietnam of India. Due to heavy casualties, the Indian government withdrew its troops from Sri Lanka in 1990. To avenge the military intervention in Sri Lanka, the Tamil rebels in India also killed Rajiv Gandhi. This assassination once again got the sympathy vote for Congress... ...as it happened after Indira Gandhi's assassination in 1984. Congress won 244 seats and formed the government again. Narasimha Rao became the Prime Minister. But now BJP also won 120 seats against the previous 86. Most importantly, the BJP had also won the election in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The same state which housed the city of Ayodhya... ...and for which the BJP undertook a long Rath Yatra. Kalyan Singh became the Chief Minister of UP. He supported the BJP workers who were planning to pull down the Babri Masjid. He drastically cut down the number of forces deployed for the security of the mosque. On December 6, 1992, extremists of the BJP and other organizations attacked the Babri Masjid. All the security personnel of the mosque disappeared as soon as the attack started. After that, the attackers demolished the mosque with ease. On the same day, the Babri Masjid was demolished, Kalyan Singh resigned... ...while the central Congress government imposed President's rule in Uttar Pradesh. Once again there were Hindu-Muslim riots in India in which hundreds of people were killed. The matter of the land of the mosque came before the court again. Whatever the Court verdict may be, factually the BJP had won its first battle. And its second fight was for the formation of its government in Delhi. The demolition of Babri Masjid was a major milestone in BJP's political career. This incident increased the vote bank of the BJP a lot. However, the period from 1996 to 1999 was a crucial period for BJP and Indian history. It was because of the fact that no party in the 1996 elections... ...get a simple majority to form the government. BJP's Atal Bihari Vajpayee became Prime Minister for just 16 days. After that, coalition governments continued to come and go. Mid-term elections were held in February 1998. In these elections, the BJP got 182 seats. Once again a coalition government was formed. Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the Prime Minister for the second time. But this government could barely last for a year and a half. However, many important events took place in this year and a half. One is that the Vajpayee government made five nuclear explosions in Rajasthan in May 98. In response, Pakistan also launched six nuclear explosions. The following year, Vajpayee came to Pakistan in a Dosti Bus... ...and stood with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for cordial relations. We showed you in our episodes on the History of Pakistan series that... ...how General Musharraf spoiled this unique chance of peace by initiating the Kargil War. In September and October 1999, the mid-term elections were held for the second time. The BJP got 182 seats this time too. This time also, it formed a coalition government with smaller parties... ...as none of them got the required 272 seats. The coalition government did not collapse but managed to complete its five-year term. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister of India till 2004. BJP was the first party in Indian history after the Congress... ...to rule for five full years. And it was the period of stability that gave birth to Narendra Modi in Gujarat. The same Narendra Modi who was going to be the future face of India. When LK Advani started the Ram Rath Yatra... ...a 40-year-old Gujarati activist was also standing on his truck. This activist was Narendra Modi. Narendra Modi was a prominent BJP worker in Gujarat. He had joined the RSS at the age of eight. After that, he was part of the same organization till 1985. In 1985, he shifted to the BJP, the political wing of the RSS. From 1998 to 2001, he served as the General Secretary of the BJP. A turning point in his career came in 2001... ...when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, due to bad governance... ...sacked Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel. In his place, Narendra Modi was made the CM of Gujarat. Hindu-Muslim riots broke out in Gujarat in 2002, one year after he came to power. These riots were also a continuation of the Ram Mandir movement as the situation was not stable till then. What happened was that on the morning of February 27, 2002, in Gujarat's city... ...of Godhra, a train of pilgrims from Ayodhya was set on fire. 59 people died. Based on this tragedy, Hindu-Muslim riots fast spread in Gujarat. Over 1000 people were killed in these riots, the majority of them were Muslims. Narendra Modi was accused of these riots that they took place with his support... ...or that he did not try much to save Muslims during the riots. A junior minister in Narendra Modi's cabinet, Harin Pandya, who was also the home minister of the state... ...also made a major statement. Pandya said that Narendra Modi had directed the police... ...not to be too harsh on Hindus. Harin Pandya was murdered in 2003. A police officer, Sanjiv Bhatt, also gave an affidavit in the Supreme Court... ...that Narendra Modi did not try to stop the riots. He also claimed that Narendra Modi said in a meeting of top government officials... ...that Muslims need to be taught a lesson. After this affidavit, Sanjeev Bhatt got into trouble. He was first fired from the police, then jailed for 20 years in a 20-year-old case. The Supreme Court of India had also formed a special investigation team to probe the Gujarat riots. In 2012, the team gave a clean chit to Narendra Modi on all charges. The appeals filed against this clean chit were also dismissed by the Supreme Court. The British media group BBC also made a documentary on Narendra Modi's role in the Gujarat riots... ...which was released in India. After the riots, Narendra Modi's grip on Gujarat politics has become very strong. Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat for about 13 years from 2001 to 2014. Meanwhile, in 2004, the political chessboard in India turned once again. BJP lost the election... ...and Congress came back to power. Manmohan Singh became the Indian Prime Minister of the Congress Party... ...and remained in power till 2014. But in the meantime, Narendra Modi did game-changing works in Gujarat. Narendra Modi had built the success of his political model on two pillars. One was Hindu nationalism and the other was untiring work for economic development. During the Narendra Modi era, Gujarat got a lot of development. He developed infrastructure in Gujarat, ...laid a network of roads and reduced taxes on industry. Thanks to Modi's efforts, Ford, Suzuki and Tata companies invested heavily and set up plants in Gujarat. Apart from this, electricity production also increased in Gujarat. Under Narendra Modi, Gujarat's economy grew at a rate of 9.8 percent. At that time in the rest of India... ...the growth rate of the rest of India was 7.7 percent. That is, Gujarat was developing faster than the rest of the country. Narendra Modi's successful economic policies have been called 'Modi-nomics' by Indian experts... ...and books were also written with this title. The tremendous economic developments also raised the political stature of Narendra Modi in the BJP. He became the third senior BJP leader after Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani. He was also seen as a prime ministerial candidate. This was because Vajpayee, who was constantly ill, had retired from practical politics years ago. After him, the second senior leader LK Advani was 85 years old. Therefore, it became difficult for him to become the Prime Minister candidate. Whereas 63-year-old veteran Narendra Modi was healthier and more active than both of them. It was for this reason that in 2013, the BJP Parliamentary Party Board... ...nominated Narendra Modi as the Prime Ministerial candidate instead of senior leader LK Advani. Narendra Modi had a double edge in the upcoming election. On the one hand, India's majority Hindu middle-class vote bank was with him... ...then many secular Indians also joined him due to his successful economic policies in Gujarat. It means that the atmosphere of their victory had already been created. Seeing this atmosphere, the BJP ran its election campaign... ...in the name of personality instead of an ideological slogan. That is, 'Ab Ki Bar Modi Sarkar' (This time, Modi's rule). In the general elections held in April and May 2014, the BJP achieved a grand victory. The party won 295 Lok Sabha seats for the first time. That is more than the 272 seats required to form the government. Thus, Narendra Modi was elected as the powerful Prime Minister of India. Even as Prime Minister, he promoted the two-pillar model of Gujarat, i.e. theocratic nationalism and investment. This model was so successful that he has been the most powerful Prime Minister of India for the past 10 years. And so powerful that he fulfilled both the promises of the BJP... ...that the party made at the time of its inception. In August 2019, Article 370 of the Indian Constitution was abolished and Kashmir was merged into India. Then in November of the same year... the Supreme Court also decreed to hand over the land of the Babri Masjid to the Hindus for building a temple. In August next year, Narendra Modi laid the foundation of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. A silver brick weighing 40 kilograms was placed in the foundation. On this occasion, Narendra Modi performed all the sacred rituals according to Hindu beliefs. After the rituals, the silver brick was removed and other bricks were placed in the foundation. After that, the construction of the temple started with a bang. A few months before India's next general election on January 22, 2024... ...Narendra Modi also inaugurated the Ram Mandir. This once again made him very popular among the Hindu middle class. Therefore it is once again believed that he will win the next election as well. The History of Modern India with this very short series... ...is complete with this video. Earlier we completed 65 episodes of History of Pakistan for you. This is a long series on the history of Pakistan which is completed up to 2006. You can see it here. Learn here the history of America before and after Columbus. Here is our great documentary series on the History of Afghanistan.