The ‘Violence’ of Development: From Babri Masjid to Gyanvapi Masjid in Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract

The demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992 marked a decisive turning point, not only in Uttar Pradesh but across India, galvanising Hindu nationalist sentiment and paving the way for the BJP’s national political dominance. It simultaneously legitimised similar legal and political claims at other contested religious sites, most significantly the dispute over the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi. We analyse these trajectories through the framework of ‘Violence(s) of Development’, focusing on two interrelated processes: (1) displacement disguised as modernisation; and (2) the erosion of cultural pluralism through the construction of the Muslim ‘other’. Drawing on English and Hindi newspapers alongside governmental discourse, the article empirically situates the dispute within broader patterns of violence inherent within development projects.