News India Xtra@newsIndiaxtraSonia Gandhi's memoir, Belonging, says a 1986 court order unlocking the Babri Masjid gates in Ayodhya revived a long-quiet dispute. She also writes that Rajiv Gandhi's Ram Rajya idea, meant to counter the BJP and RSS, fell flat.
Journalist Neerja Chowdhury's account says the government was worried about Hindu anger over the Shah Bano judgment, and that Arun Nehru pushed for the locks to be opened.
The move did not help at the polls. In 1989 Congress won 197 seats, the most of any party, but lost its majority, down from 404 seats in 1984.
