Thirty-six years after police opened fire on kar sevaks in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath used the anniversary — 30 October — to publicly invoke the episode and sharpen his party's political attack on the Samajwadi Party, quoting Union Home Minister Amit Shah directly.

Posting on 30 October 2026, CM Yogi shared remarks attributed to Home Minister Shah: 'Akhilesh babu, aap to kya, aapki teesri peedhi tak UP ki janta aapko maaf nahi karegi' — 'Akhilesh, not just you, but even your third generation will not be forgiven by the people of UP.' The statement directly accused then-Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav of ordering indiscriminate firing on Ram devotees in 1990, calling it a 'massacre' (narasanhar).

What happened in Ayodhya in October 1990

In October 1990, during Mulayam Singh Yadav's first term as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, state police opened fire on kar sevaks — volunteers who had converged on Ayodhya as part of the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation. The incident resulted in multiple deaths and immediately became one of the most politically charged events in modern UP history. For the BJP and its associated formations, it became a defining symbol of what they characterised as the SP's hostility toward Hindu religious sentiment. Mulayam Singh Yadav passed away in October 2022.

The BJP's long-running electoral use of the 1990 memory

The anniversary invocation is not accidental — it is a well-worn page from the BJP's UP playbook. Since the early 1990s, the party has returned to this episode in virtually every major election cycle, using it to draw a sharp contrast with non-BJP governments and to consolidate support among voters who backed or sympathise with the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. The framing has only intensified since the Supreme Court's 2019 verdict cleared the path for Ram Mandir construction, and the temple's consecration in January 2024 gave the BJP a crowning achievement to set against what it frames as decades of obstruction.

The target this time is Akhilesh Yadav, SP president and former Chief Minister (2012–2017), and son of Mulayam Singh. The post — and the Shah quote within it — signals that the BJP intends to keep generational accountability at the centre of its anti-SP messaging, arguing that UP voters have neither forgotten nor forgiven the events of 1990.

Why Amit Shah's voice is amplified here

CM Yogi's choice to quote Home Minister Shah rather than post his own words is deliberate political choreography. Shah is widely regarded as the BJP's most formidable electoral strategist and his statements on UP carry weight beyond state politics. By attributing the sharpest line — the 'third generation' warning — to Shah, the post elevates the attack from a regional jab to a national-level political indictment of the Yadav family's legacy.

The Samajwadi Party has not yet issued a formal response to this specific post. But the exchange sets a combative tone as both parties position themselves ahead of future electoral contests in India's most populous and politically consequential state.

The people of UP, as both sides know, have a long memory — and in this election, each is betting that memory works in their favour.