Sonia Gandhi says she wept watching the Babri Masjid demolition on TV

The Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, was demolished in 1992 by Hindu extremists. Congress leader Sonia Gandhi has now said she cried as she watched the demolition on television.

Sonia shared this in an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian on Saturday (7 November).

She said, “I burst into tears as I watched the Babri Masjid being demolished on television. Through that, I realised that India faced a long struggle ahead to protect its secularism.”

At the time, the Ram Janmabhoomi movement was spreading among extremists in Uttar Pradesh. The mosque was demolished on the claim that an ancient temple stood beneath it.

Noting that the now-ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had a hand in the demolition, Sonia said she realised India was entering a difficult test to protect the secular India dreamed of by Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and their colleagues.

Sonia also admitted that the Congress itself had a role in the rise of the BJP and its aggressive Hindutva politics in India.

After Sonia's remarks on the Babri Masjid, the BJP mocked her. Party spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari alleged that the Congress is 'anti-Hindu'.

Writing on X, he said, “Sonia Gandhi sheds tears for the Babri Masjid, Sonia Gandhi sheds tears for Batla House. Sonia Gandhi has proved that the Congress is pro-Babar and against Lord Ram. Sonia Gandhi's vote bank will keep shrinking.”

The demolition of the Babri Masjid triggered conflicts in different parts of India, whose effects lasted for a long time.

The BJP had promised that a Ram temple would be built on the site of the Babri Masjid. In 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi built the temple there, fulfilling that promise.