This story is from May 4, 2019

This babu resettled Muslims after Babri Masjid demolition; now seeks votes in Faizabad

Twenty seven years after former Faizabad district magistrate (DM) Vijay Shankar Pandey helped resettle almost 5,000 Muslims following the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992, the UP cadre babu is contesting Lok Sabha polls from Faizabad constituency.
This babu resettled Muslims after Babri Masjid demolition; now seeks votes in Faizabad
Vijay Shankar Pandey
FAIZABAD: Twenty seven years after former Faizabad district magistrate (DM) Vijay Shankar Pandey helped resettle almost 5,000 Muslims following the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992, the UP cadre babu is contesting Lok Sabha polls from Faizabad constituency.
Pandey, whose plank is to fight against corruption and not for or against the mandir, says he has been connected with people of the temple town — including the Muslims he helped — since then.

Pandey, now 62, was sent to Faizabad as DM on December 7, 1992, a day after the Babri Masjid was brought to dust and Ayodhya was ‘shattered’.
As curfew had been put into effect, Pandey recalled he was sent to Ayodhya in the intervening night of December 7 and 8, between 2 am and 3 am, on a helicopter. “The city was a mess, in shambles. Most of the Muslim houses were razed, people had been killed or thrown out and their shops and homes looted and burnt. Several other mosques were also demolished and people displaced,” recalled Pandey, speaking to TOI, in between campaigning.
He is a candidate of the newly-formed Lok Gatbhandhan Party (LGP).
Pandey: Locals not interested in the Mandir-Muslim tussle
Pandey, who got two years of his primary education in Ayodhya and served there as DM, said it is this personal connect with the town, that has had him contest election from Faizabad parliamentary constituency.
"Muslims were residing in makeshift tents. I met them several times and told them the country belonged to them as much as it belonged to anyone else. We restored the rule of law, built trust in them and got 5,000 Muslims back to their homes in around two months," said the former IAS officer. "It was unfortunate what had happened, but we could only help them with peace," he said.

Haji Syed Iftikhar Ahmad Latifi, who lives barely 200 meters from where Babri Masjid once stood, recalls Pandey, from the December of 1992. "I met him on December 9, during a meeting at the DM's camp office. He told us that while he could not bring back the Babri Masjid, all efforts would be made to repair the loss Muslims had incurred."
Latifi, then said, shops which had been encroached upon in the aftermath, were promised to be returned to Muslims with much of the promise fulfilled.
Pandey, who election plank is fight against corruption, said: “I began campaigning a year ago and have already covered 600 villages. Locals here are not interested in the Mandir-Masjid tussle, but want basic amenities to reach them. For politicians it is only 'me' and 'my' and it is for good people to jump in active politics, to clean it from within."
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