New Delhi: A school in Karnataka run by a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader made children re-enact the demolition of the Babri Masjid in a play on Sunday.

Today, home minister Amit Shah said that a “grand Ram Temple” will come up where the Babri Masjid stood, within four months.

Videos of the play have been circulating on social media. A number of school children dressed in white and saffron can be seen rushing towards a huge poster of the Babri Masjid, while a narrator says on a loudspeaker: “With enthusiasm, Hanuman bhakts with Hanuman’s anger, they bring down Babri structure. Bolo Shri Ramachandra ki, Jai!” The

children then tore up the poster and cheered on stage. They then reportedly put up a ‘Ram Temple’.

Karnataka school run by RSS man makes kids ‘demolish’ Babri Masjid in a play The Chief Guests for the event were Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers, DV Sadananda Gowda; Puducherry Governor Kiran Bedi; and several Ministers from Karnataka. pic.twitter.com/hVdqxvfdvI — Sanyukta (@dramadhikari) December 16, 2019

The News Minute says that the video was taken at Sri Rama Vidyakendra High School in Kalladka in Karnataka. Children from class 11 and 12 were made to participate in the enactment of the demolition.

The school is apparently owned by RSS leader Prabhakar Bhat.

Journalist Gauri Lankesh, who was shot dead allegedly by Hindutva forces outside her house, had written about Bhat: “Bhat’s work was to ensure that the subtle communal agitation started by Sangh Parivar in Kalladka is spread to the entire South Canara region and Udupi District in an organised manner so as to also feed the saffronisation required for the upcoming assembly election.”

She wrote that two school which Bhat is associated with has become “famously known as Hindutva’s dwelling place. In these schools, innocent kids are being indoctrinated with the RSS ideology – through RSS uniforms, slinging lathis, and blind hatred towards Muslim-Christian Communities. About 3000 kids from the school have been exploited in an illegal-immoral-pagan manner so that Hindutva’s hidden agenda is established.”

Importantly, she said that some of these schools are government aided, “but what is taught there is against the Constitution itself.”

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The News Minute reached out to Bhat for comment and he said that he doesn’t agree with the recent Supreme Court judgement on the Babri Masjid case.

“Even though the Supreme Court has said what happened in Babri was wrong, we have questioned that part of the judgement itself. We cannot accept everything that is said in the judgement. I don’t agree with it,” he said.

He also said that the students were merely depicting a historical event and that there was nothing wrong with that. “We have depicted Jallianwala Bagh as well. Did anyone highlight that?” he said.

Union minister and BJP MP Sadananda Gowda was the chief guest, along with Puducherry governor and former cop Kiran Bedi. Gowda has claimed that he arrived only after the play was shown. The Wire reached out to Bedi for a response, and this article will be updated if she responds. Bedi tweeted about the event:

Another formation d school children made was of the proposed Shri Ram Mandir at #Ayodhya. All such performances enabled d school ensure all of its 3800+ school children participate in d annual festival of Sri Rama Vidya Kendra, Kalladka Village, near Mangalore @PTI_News @ANI pic.twitter.com/IdaoySuBY4 — Kiran Bedi (@thekiranbedi) December 16, 2019

Other state ministers were also present at the function.

The Congress’s social media coordinator, Lavanya Ballal, tweeted the video and said, “How do they sow seeds of hate?”