"Lalu Yadav ordering the arrest of Advani, and Mulayam Singh Yadav ordering the firing on kar sevaks in Ayodhya, where dozens—some claims put the number in hundreds—of ordinary Ram bhakts were killed, were the events that ignited Hindutva sentiments among a larger chunk of the masses. The talking point no longer remained ‘Muslim appeasement’. Now, people could sense ‘persecution of Hindus’ with such actions—something that was not too obvious under the Congress governments, as I had mentioned earlier. This is the reason why the BJP saw a huge jump in vote share in the ensuing 1991 Lok Sabha elections."