Ramayana: Historicizing Myth and Mythologizing History 57ally pertinent and/or nationalistic events: the eruption of the Afghani-
stan issue in 1979-80 with the Soviet occupation, the sudden death of
Sanjay Gandhi in June 1980, the Indira Gandhi-Maneka Gandhi rift in
March 1982 over the alleged RSS- and BJP-inspired convention of the lat-
ter, India hosting the Ninth Asian Games in New Delhi in November 1982
followed by the smashing success of the Gandhi film that was presented
in a Hinduized Congress discourse, and Indira Gandhi's assuming the
Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) chairmanship in March 1983 were some
marginal events that put India at the threshold of a fateful decade.
The issue that came to interject the communal fervor of the period, how-
ever, was the Punjab issue, which began rather murkily, proceeded to a
"heroic" storming of the Sikh Golden Temple by the Indian military in
June 1984, and climaxed in the assassination of Indira Gandhi in December
that year. It was followed by the Congress-sponsored anti-Sikh violence,
the live telecast on national TV of Mrs. Gandhi's cremation by Brahmins
with Vedic rituals, and an overwhelming electoral victory of Rajiv Gandhi
in January 1985. The Congress party capitalized on the widespread feel-
ing of soft Hindu communalism with 403 seats in the 544-member Lower
House of Parliament, leaving only two seats for the BJP, which has been
a professed proponent of Hindu communalism all along. The Congress
clearly outdid the BJP in their own territory with such a shrewd strategy
that agitated the Hindus, avoided the alienation of the usual suspects—
Muslims—and garnered the support of everybody else against the small
group of Sikhs residing predominantly in one corner of the country. Inci-
dents such as the Air India Boeing 747 crash off Ireland on June 23,1985,
that killed 329 people contributed to this politics quite considerably.
No sooner did Rajiv assume power in Delhi than the famous Shah Bano
case ruling was declared. When the Supreme Court ruled in April 1985
that the divorce of the Muslim lady, Shah Bano, on the basis of Islamic
custom was not valid,^35 it gave rise to anger and resentment among most
Muslims. So the Rajiv government introduced in May 1986 the Muslim
Women's (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Bill in order to please the Mus-
lims. And to counter this move and placate the majority Hindus, the Babri
Masjid was unlocked by a court order on February 1,1986. We turn to this
specific issue later, and suffice it now to state that this tit-for-tat strategy
backfired and there ensued a dangerous confrontation between the Hindu
and the Muslim communities and especially the communal elements. The
Babri Masjid Action Committee (BMAC) went to the extent of asking the
Muslims to boycott the Republic Day celebrations on January 26, 1987.
However, it withdrew the call later following an appeal of the president of
India, but reiterated its plan of national strike on February 1.
At this backdrop, the Doordarshan began the telecast of the Ramayan in
January 1987. When the confused Muslim leadership was on the doldrums
and the Rajiv government was striding steadily on the carefully concealed