Babri Razing Enacted In School Event Attended By Kiran Bedi, Minister

The razing of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya was enacted by students at a school annual day function in Karnataka on Sunday attended by Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi and Union Minister DV Sadananda Gowda. The school, Shri Rama Vidya Kendra in Dakshina Kannada district, is owned by a senior leader of the (RSS) Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, although the organisation has distanced itself from the event. Five people including the principal and the owner, RSS leader Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat, have been charged by the police.

In a video of the controversial re-enactment, students in saffron and white rush towards a giant poster of the Babri mosque and tear it down, shred it to pieces and stomp on it. A voice in the mic shouts "Shri Ram Chandra Ki Jai", "Bharat Mata ki Jai", "Bajrang Bali Ki Jai" as the students "celebrate" waving saffron flags. Other students sit in the shape of India. Later, the same students symbolically "replace" it with a Ram temple.

In tweets by Kiran Bedi, the students are seen standing in the formation of what is described as a Ram temple in Ayodhya. "Another one the school children made was of the proposed Shri Ram Mandir at #Ayodhya. All such formations enabled the school ensure all of its 3800+ students participate in the annual festival of the school...," Ms Bedi tweeted.

Another formation d school children made was of the proposed Shri Ram Mandir at #Ayodhya. All such performances enabled d school ensure all of its 3800+ school children participate in d annual festival of Sri Rama Vidya Kendra, Kalladka Village, near Mangalore @PTI_News @ANI pic.twitter.com/IdaoySuBY4

— Kiran Bedi (@thekiranbedi) December 16, 2019

Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat, a powerful RSS leader in the coastal belt of Karnataka, is seen in a photo sitting with Ms Bedi at the function.

The skit by schoolchildren representing one of the darkest chapters in India's history - the 1992 demolition of the Babri mosque by Hindu activists who believe it was built on the ruins of an ancient temple marking the birthplace of Lord Ram - has provoked outrage.

What a shame, 'super cop' enabling children to be publicly abused by Hindutva crazed nut jobs in enacting an incident which even the SC called unlawful. And you want us to believe all these tough-on-law-and-order types believe in the law. https://t.co/gUILOiznvB

— Ramanathan S (@madarassi) December 17, 2019

An RSS leader in Karnataka, Rajesh Padmar, said the function was not organized by the Sangh. "The RSS has nothing to do with the function and it's the annual day programme of the school that happens every year," he told NDTV.

He said Ms Bedi was the Chief Guest and was present throughout. Sadananda Gowda, the Union Chemicals and Fertilizers minister, stayed for some time but left.

The Supreme Court last month handed the site of the razed mosque to a trust for building a temple and ruled that Muslims would be given an alternative site for a mosque. The court also called the mosque razing a "calculated act of destroying a place of public worship".