Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The people who reached Ayodhya in October 1990 for karseva still remember the scene when police opened fire on Saryu Bridge and in Ayodhya, leaving numerous karsevaks dead. Excerpts of what karsevaks told Free Press.
No one will forget it
BJP MLA from Huzur Assembly constituency (Bhopal) Rameshwar Sharma: I was Bajrang Dal president in Bhopal when I participated in karseva movement of 1990. Countless karsevaks went missing after firing incident in Ayodhya. Till today, no one knows about their whereabouts. No karsevak from Bhopal was killed. From Bhopal, thousands of karsevaks left for Ayodhya in 85 buses. When police denied entry of buses in Ayodhya, karsevaks reached the venue (Ram birth place) through fields. The villagers greeted us and offered food. No one can ever forget it.
Police opened fire and..
Advocate Indal Singh Sengar: When our train was about to reach Lucknow, it stopped all of a sudden. All the karsevaks got down from the train and reached Lucknow while passing through fields. When we were taking rest at Manakhedi orchard, police came to know and entire squad was bundled inside the buses with the false promise that we would be taken to Ram’s birth place. But bus drivers were told to leave karsevaks in jungles. On sensing that bus was taking us elsewhere, I told bus driver either to take the bus to Ayodhya or we will set the bus on fire. The bus driver dropped all karsevaks near Saryu river. There, I saw police opening fire on people present on Saryu bridge. They were falling down in river.
35 bodies were floating Tapan
Bhaumik: It was in front of me that Kothari brothers were shot dead in Ayodhya. When we tried to rush them to hospital by loading them on hand cart, police started to beat us mercilessly. Later, Kothari brothers, hailing from West Bengal, died. At least, 35 people bodies were found floating in Saryu river after firing.
