Summary:
Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s voice never had the shrillness of other saffron leaders on the Ayodhya issue. On the day of Babri Masjid demolition on December 6, 1992, when almost all Sangh Parivar leaders were in Ayodhya, and many were later booked for inciting kar sevaks, Vajpayee was in Lucknow. He set up the Ayodhya cell in the PMO manned by IAS officer Navneet Sehgal.Despite being in the Sangh Parivar since the beginning of his political journey, Vajpayee stayed away from contentious issues and communal agenda and stuck to his political philosophy till the end. In 1990, when LK Advani undertook his rath yatra from Gujarat to Ayodhya, Vajpayee stayed away from it.For 16 years since the Babri Masjid demolition, the Sangh Parivar organised many programmes for temple construction but Atal always remained silent on the issue.As PM, Vajpayee held a series of meetings with the Sangh Parivar, litigants and rivals, including AIMPLB. Baring his rally in Lucknow in whihc he addressed kar sevaks on December 5, 1992, he never took active part in any yatra nor did he participate in any religious congregation or conference of saints for temple construction.After becoming the PM, he was always on the lookout for a peaceful solution of the tangle..