Opening up the locked gates of Babri Masjid for Hindus to worship in 1986, became the key to the rise of India's Right

In the complex world of Indian politics, the BJP rules today. The dominant force in the NDA alliance bagged 303 seats out a possible 543 in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The saffron party received 37% votes, a jump of over 6% since 2014. BJP’s chief rival, Congress, got half — 19% vote share.
The situation was the reverse, 35 years ago. Many young Indians today would find it hard to believe that under the leadership of Rajiv Gandhi, the Congress earned 49% of the votes and a staggering 404 seats in the 1984 LS polls. The BJP, in contrast, picked up less than 8% of the ballot and was reduced to a single-digit party with just two seats in the lower house.
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