Mr Advani and the other leaders spent nearly three hours in court. Before the hearing, they stopped at the VVIP guest house in Lucknow where UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath greeted Mr Advani with flowers.

Uma Bharti, the Water Resources Minister, told reporters: "I don't consider myself an accused...There was no conspiracy, it was an open movement like it happened against the Emergency."

The BJP backed its leaders. "We are sure that our leaders are innocent and will come out unscathed," said Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu.

The special court was given a month by the Supreme Court to frame conspiracy charges against Mr Advani and a dozen other leaders for the demolition on 6 December 1992 of the 16th century Babri mosque.

The leaders are already facing trial for making provocative speeches from a platform near the Babri mosque before it was pulled down by karsevaks, or right-wing volunteers. Stating that the two cases cannot be separate, the court transferred the hate speech case from a Rae Bareli court to Lucknow for a joint trial.

The conspiracy charge against Mr Advani and others was dropped by the special CBI Court in 2001, which sought to distinguish between the main demolition case and the case related to the hate speeches. The decision was endorsed by the Allahabad High Court in 2010.

Restoring the charge last month, the Supreme Court described the demolition of the 16th century mosque as a "crime" which shook the "secular fabric of the Constitution".

The court had also strongly rebuked the CBI for a delay of 25 years in the trial and said, "The accused persons have not been brought to book largely because of the conduct of the CBI in not pursuing the prosecution of the aforesaid alleged offenders in a joint trial, and because of technical defects which were easily curable, but which were not cured by the State Government."

The demolition of the mosque followed a nationwide movement led by Mr Advani and others for a temple at the site where the mosque was constructed by the Mughals. Many Hindus believe that the mosque was built over the birthplace of Lord Ram; they want a temple to be built there.