The 3 Ayodhya Debates - by Dr. Koenraad Elst.

Title of the talk : My experiences with Ayodhya since 1989.
Abstract of the talk : "I entered the Ayodhya controversy at the time of the evidence debate, 1989-1991, reporting on it in my modest first book Ram Janmabhoomi vs. Babri Masjid (1990), ending up stringing together the different extant or newfound proofs into a coherent narrative for the VHP/VoI book History vs. Casuistry (1991). Over the next decades, I covered more aspects of this debate and related ones, and specialized in pin-pricking the various cop-outs and distractive stratagems thought up by the anti-temple party, see the papers collected in my books Ayodhya: the Case against the Temple (2002) and Forever Ayodhya (2023). The archaeological evidence I had to borrow from the specialists, viz. about the four waves of evidence: 1. BB Lal's discovery of the pillar-bases around the Babri Masjid; 2. unexpected pieces thrown up in the Demolition in 1992; 3. Court-ordered excavations under BR Maņi and KK Muhammad in 2003; and 4. many temple remains serendipitously thrown up during the soil-clearing preparing for the construction of the new temple in 2020. While certain excuses could still be tried against the documentary evidence, this archaeological evidence blew the anti-temple case away. Only people unrelated to the debate still claim there are doubts about a temple's pre-existence; the defeated "eminent historians" started looking the other way.With the agitation I had little to do, though I tried to occasionally report on it. In particular, I have reflected on the possibility of less conflictual alternatives to the rather painful way the new Rāma Lalā temple was achieved. With hindsight, we can say that such alternatives did exist, virtually."
About the speaker : Dr. Koenraad Elst is an eminent historian, author, and public speaker on Indology, Hindu revivalism, sinology, and philosophy. He earned his Ph.D. degree from the Catholic University of Leuven in Oriental Philology and History. As part of his research, he also had a stay at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU). Indeed, a rare breed among intelligentsia, Dr. Elst belongs to the elite group that housed scholars like Ram Swarup and Sita Ram Goel; people who made their voice heard for facts across the globe, in scientific temperament, despite facing harsh criticism from scholars of other schools of thought. Over the years, Dr. Elst has championed the theory of indigeneous Aryans and the use of paleolinguistics. His work on Ayodhya is regarded by many as prime among most. Dr. Elst, till date, has authored more than 20 books that include decolonizing the Hindu mind, the Saffron Swastika, Hindu Dharma and culture wars, why and how Mohandas Gandhi was killed, Ayodhya Ram Temple, the Aryan Invasion Debate, negationism in Indian history discourse, psychology of prophetism, communal violence and propaganda, etc.
Date : 24th January, 2024.
Venue : L-8, LHC, IIT Kanpur.