L.K. Advanis BJP and Bal Thackerays Shiv Sena strike an electoral alliance. The coalition sweeps the Maharashtra polls in April 1995. With Thackeray remote controllingthe government,the BJP is an uneasy partner wary of its allys unabashed endorse -ment of violence and the personality cult.
December 6, 1992, becomes a black letter day in post-Independence history when kar sevaks demolish the 400-year-old Babri Masjid at Ayodhya with bare hands. Riots erupt across the country, leaving over 2,000 dead. The Centre, under fire for inaction, dismisses four BJP governments. The discord simmers on as Hindu fundamentalists construct a temporary structure and the government promises to rebuild the mosque.
Two bouts of rioting erupt in Mumbai after the Babri demolitionin December 1992 and January 1993. While hundreds die and thousands flee the city, the police reacts with brutality and rounds up scores of people under TADA. Muslims desert the Congress, which two years later is routed at the polls. Among those arrested under TADA, in April 1993, is filmstar Sanjay Dutt (above) for illegally possessing an AK-56 rifle. His two-year term, widely publicised, brings focus to the TADA debate.
March 12,1993: A dozen blasts hit Mumbai simultaneously, killing 350 and injuring 1,100. The perpetrators remain elusive, but the police naban accomplice,Yakub Memon.
TRAGIDIES
IA temporarily grounds all A-320s after a crash at Bangalore in 1990.
September 1995: The plague strikes Surat,unleashing panic worldwide.
September 1993:Nearly 10,000 die in an earthquake in Latur, Maharashtra.
Oct 91: Uttarkashi quake; 1,000 die
Dec 95: fire at Dabwali, Haryana; 315 schoolkids, others burn to death
Nov 96: mid-air collision over Charkhi Dadri; toll 350
Apr 97, Mecca: over 200 Indians die in a fire
Jun 97: Uphaar fire; toll 59