Babri masjid demolition anniversary: Security beefed up in Ayodhya

Ayodhya remained under an extensive security blanket on the 33rd anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid on Saturday, with no organised political or religious mobilisations -- a sharp contrast to earlier years when rival groups marked the day with symbolic demonstrations.

Security personnel were on high alert and carried out checking drives across the holy town, especially around the newly constructed Ram temple, railway station, bus stands and major roads, and other sensitive areas in Uttar Pradesh, including Varanasi and Mathura, with mosque-temple disputes, stopping vehicles at multiple checkpoints, verifying IDs and strengthening vigil.

"December 6 is always a sensitive date for Ayodhya. This year, we are ensuring no breach of peace or security," said Superintendent of Police (City) Chakrapani Tripathi.

He said that strict directives had been issued prohibiting public gatherings or rallies, while hotels had been asked to maintain detailed visitors' records. Bomb squads and dog squads also carried out checks at railway station parking areas along with Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel, he said.

Unlike previous years, there were no organised political or religious mobilisations. Local activists and residents said it reflects both the administrative curbs imposed after the Supreme Court's 2019 verdict and the passing away of the once-key leaders from both sides of the dispute.

"The government has banned observing 'Black Day' or 'Victory Day' (Shaurya Diwas) after the final verdict," said Indu Bhushan Pandey, a social activist in Ayodhya.

The BJP posted messages on its X handles paying tributes to those associated with the Ram Temple movement on "Shaurya Diwas" -- observed by Hindu outfits to mark the demolition in 1992.

"Jai Shri Ram, On Shaurya Diwas, a hundred salutations to the Sanatanis who, by offering their lives in the Shri Ram Mandir movement, paved the way for the cultural renaissance of the nation," a post on the official handle of the BJP's Uttar Pradesh unit said.

Many prominent figures associated with the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, including Ashok Singhal, Kalyan Singh, Bal Thackeray and Mahant Avaidyanath, have either passed away or faded from public life.

Leaders from the Babri Masjid Action Committee, such as Zafaryab Jilani, Syed Shahabuddin, Abdullah Bukhari and Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, are also no longer alive. Even the main litigants, including Hashim Ansari and Triloki Nath Pandey, in whose name the court decree for the Ram temple was issued, have passed away.

Meanwhile, the five-acre plot allotted by the Supreme Court to the Sunni Central Waqf Board for building a mosque remains barren. The Ayodhya Development Authority had rejected the initial plan submitted for the proposed mosque, and no revised map has since been filed.

The new mosque project rollout at Dhannipur, around 25 km from the holy city, could begin around April 2026, the head of the trust tasked with the project said.

If all fits in place, and of course, subject to the Ayodhya Development Authority's (ADA) approval of the revised layout plan of the mosque that we hope to submit by December-end, a tentative timeline of the mosque project rollout could be around April 2026, Zufar Faruqi, chairman of the Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF), which will undertake the construction of the mosque-complex project, told PTI.

However, uncertainties still shroud the original mosque plan, more than five years after the Ayodhya district administration, acting on Supreme Court orders, formally allocated five acres of land for it.

Faruqi said the first mosque layout plan was rejected by the ADA, but even before that, the IICF had decided to drop it following objections from the community over its futuristic, modern design and settle for a more conservative, traditional one one that is near ready.

The ADA's approval is the key first step towards the start of the much-delayed mosque construction.