2 PM Report, Final Phase: Focus on Himachal and Punjab

“According to all available evidence, Mughal Emperor Babur visited Ayodhya in 1528, destroyed the temple situated at the site believed to be Ram Janmasthan and constructed a mosque in its place”. This was the simple 2 line resolution that would change the course of history. It was adapted in the small nondescript Rotary club of Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, which could hardly accommodate a few dozen people. The Bharatiya Janata Party, the world’s largest political party today, was so small in its size back then on June 9^th 1989 that the entire party’s national convention could be held in that small rotary club.

Palampur resolution of 1989 though small in size and stature (missed by most media narratives back then) would have such far reaching consequences merely a few months later in the national elections when BJP would rise from a paltry 2 seat party to become the 3^rd largest national party with 85 MPs. History is made by a few words uttered at the right time. History also has a sense of its bearings. Such a momentous resolution couldn’t have happened anywhere else but on the Himalayan foothills of the Dauladhar.

Almost completely untouched by Mughal or Islamic influences, with no Azaan to be ever heard anywhere in the vicinity, with no Mughlai cuisine penetrating the local culinary habits that maintain their pristine purity from the times of Mahabharata, with no diluting of traditions that have remained ensconced within the mountains for many centuries, Palampur, nestled at the most beautiful confluence of the Kangra Valley understood her place in history. She was a small town that would redefine the character of Indian democracy without ever demanding larger recognition.

Deep sense of nationalism and historic pride about the Vedic civilization flows through the veins of Palampur. It is that nondescript smallest of small towns which has sacrificed two of her most famous sons in the defence of Bharat Mata. The very first and the very last Param Vir Chakra winners lived in and around Palampur, just 10 miles apart!