Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya, a former Lok Sabha member, was known as a hardcore hindutva leader with unmatched oratorial skills. He was also a former Bajrang Dal president and was jailed with BJP leaders L.K. Advani, Kalyan Singh and others in 1993. In 1996, he marched to Kashmir with some 50,000 young men to call for a ban on cow slaughter. Excerpts from an interview:
How do you look back upon the movement?
The Ram Mandir movement is often compared to the freedom struggle. I think it was an even bigger movement. It proved that Shri Ram is in our blood. The Parliament and state legislatures do not beat in the hearts of people; Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura do. Those who believe in Ram know how long the wait has been. Instead of 25 to 30 years, it took 500 years. The history of this movement does not start in 1984 when a pledge was taken on the banks of the Saryu. It goes back to 1528 when Mir Baqi, a commander of Babar, ravaged the birthplace of Lord Ram. Then some 1.75 lakh Hindus clung to the walls to save the structure. Many were beheaded. Their blood was mixed in the building material with which the Babri structure was made. It is rather unfortunate that people call it the Babri Masjid when it was just a blood-soaked structure that was brought down 500 years later.
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