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For kar sevaks, orderdouses years of anger
Lucknow: For close to three decades, Sudhir Nag carried around a scar on his face and a grudge in his heart. The 50-year-old was hit by a bullet in 1990 when state
Lucknow: For close to three decades, Sudhir Nag carried around a scar on his face and a grudge in his heart. The 50-year-old was hit by a bullet in 1990 when state police opened fire at a congregation of kar sevaks, or Hindu devotees, near the disputed site in Ayodhya town, on the orders of then chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav. The .303 rifle bullet tore through his face and shattered the retina of his right eye, crippling the then 21-year-old young man.
On Saturday, however, he was beaming. “I had been angry all these years. But now, I am very happy,” he said, referring to the Supreme Court’s order clearing the decks for the construction of the temple in the disputed site.
Nag condemned the deaths of 28 other kar sevaks in the firing that ratcheted up tensions across Uttar Pradesh then, but said he was calmer now. “I appeal to people to respect the judgment. Hindus may celebrate, I am celebrating, but celebrations should not be done in a way to tease or hurt other community people,” he said.
The Ayodhya resident was one of thousands of Hindu foot soldiers who left their homes to march to Ayodhya in the early 90s, many of them with weapons in their hands, chanting slogans to demolish what they believed was a mosque built on the ruins of a temple dedicated to Ram. Many of them formed the mobs who stormed the police barricades on December 6, 1992, climbed on top of the three domes of the Babri masjid and hacked it to pieces with hammers and pick-axes.
At the height of the temple movement in 1990, kar sevaks decided to march to Ayodhya. On October 30, Nag was leading a batch of 70 men when the bullet hit him. He survived, but Ram Kothari (22) and Sharad Kothari (20) weren’t as lucky. They were killed in the firing.
For years, their families mourned their loss, but the apex court’s judgment brought them cheer. “Our entire family is very happy. We waited for 29 long years for justice. My brothers who died fighting for Ram Mandir would now rest in peace. It’s like a second Diwali and Holi for all of us,” said Poornima, their elder sister, from Kolkata.
As news of the judgment spread, kar sevaks across India rejoiced. Mandsaur-based Ashutosh Navaal (48) recalled he had to walk for nearly 200 kms to reach the Saryu river bridge, often hiding in drains and ponds to escape police scrutiny. “A rickshaw puller named Bhola had pity and took us to his village and fed us,” he remembered.
Hoshangabad-based Ashok Purohit (66) said he hoped that a grand Ram temple comes up in Ayodhya in his lifetime. “I had gone to Ayodhya and seen the disputed structure from inside. It looks like a temple and the supreme court’s verdict has proved this,” he said.
Many of these devotees had moved away from the temple movement but said the court’s verdict had re-ignited their passion about Ram Mandir. Nag, for example, vowed to never go back to the site until the temple was built, and stuck to his pledge for almost 30 years.
But on Saturday, his conviction was wavering. “Now I think sometime today or tomorrow I will go there,” he said.
