In stark contrast to previous years when opposing factions commemorated the day with symbolic protests, Ayodhya remained under a heavy security blanket on Saturday, the 33rd anniversary of the destruction of the Babri Masjid, and there were no organized political or religious mobilizations.
Security officers were on high alert and conducted checking drives throughout the holy town, particularly in the vicinity of the recently built Ram temple, the railway station, bus stops, and major roads. They also stopped cars at several checkpoints, checked IDs, and increased vigilance in other sensitive areas of Uttar Pradesh, such as Varanasi and Mathura, where there were disputes between mosques and temples.
For Ayodhya, December 6th is always a delicate day. We are making sure that there are no security or peace violations this year,” said Chakrapani Tripathi, Superintendent of Police (City).
He said that hotels had been required to keep thorough visitor records and that stringent orders had been issued forbidding public meetings or protests. Along with members of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP), bomb squads and dog squads also conducted inspections at train station parking lots, he added.
There were no organized political or religious mobilizations, in contrast to prior years. According to locals and activists, it is a reflection of both the administrative restrictions placed in place after the Supreme Court’s 2019 ruling and the deaths of important figures on both sides of the conflict.
Ayodhya social activist Indu Bhushan Pandey said, “The government has outlawed commemorating ‘Black Day’ or ‘Victory Day’ (Shaurya Diwas) following the final ruling.”
On “Shaurya Diwas,” which Hindu organizations marked to commemorate the destruction in 1992, the BJP issued statements on its X accounts honoring individuals involved in the Ram Temple campaign.
“Jai Shri Ram, On Shaurya Diwas, a hundred salutations to the Sanatanis who, by donating their life in the Shri Ram Mandir movement, laid the path for the cultural revival of the country,” read a post on the BJP’s Uttar Pradesh unit is official account.
Ashok Singhal, Kalyan Singh, Bal Thackeray, and Mahant Avaidyanath are just a few of the well-known individuals connected to the Ram Janmabhoomi movement who have either died or become less visible.
Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, Syed Shahabuddin, Abdullah Bukhari, Zafaryab Jilani, and other Babri Masjid Action Committee leaders have also passed away. The court order for the Ram temple was granted in the names of Hashim Ansari and Triloki Nath Pandey, two prominent petitioners who have now died away.
In the meanwhile, the Sunni Central Waqf Board’s five-acre property that the Supreme Court gave them to construct a mosque is still empty. The original design for the planned mosque was rejected by the Ayodhya Development Authority, and no updated map has been presented since.
According to the president of the trust in charge of the project, the new mosque project rollout in Dhannipur, which is around 25 kilometers from the holy city, may start in April 2026.
“A tentative timeline of the mosque project rollout could be around April 2026 if everything 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,” Zufar Faruqi, chairman of the Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF), which will carry out the construction of the mosque-complex project, told PTI.
More than five years after the Ayodhya district government publicly allotted five acres of land for the mosque in accordance with Supreme Court instructions, there are still doubts surrounding the initial mosque design.
According to Faruqi, the ADA rejected the original mosque layout plan, but the IICF had already decided to abandon it due to community concerns about its futuristic, contemporary design and replace it with a more traditional, conservative plan that is almost finished.
The building of the much-delayed mosque will begin with the ADA’s clearance.
