India Today @ 50 Part 2: Bofors, Babri and the making of modern India

New Delhi,UPDATED: Dec 21, 2025 09:30 IST

A sweeping account of India’s most turbulent political decades unfolded in the second episode of India Today @ 50, a five-part docu-series marking 50 years of the India Today Group, tracing how scandals, social churn and insurgencies reshaped the nation -- and Indian journalism itself.

Part 2, which aired on Saturday (December 20), traced the arc from the early optimism surrounding Rajiv Gandhi to the political, social and security upheavals triggered by the Bofors scandal, the Mandal Commission, the Kashmir insurgency and the demolition of the Babri Masjid, before closing with the economic reforms of 1991.

Through newsroom recollections and frontline reporting, the episode positions journalism as “the first draft of history” written amid fire and fracture.

India Today Chairperson and Editor-in-Chief Aroon Purie recalled how Rajiv Gandhi, a young leader with a historic mandate, was seen as a symbol of change. But he was a reluctant politician, noting his own words on the uncertainty of power, “When I’m a pilot, when I move a lever I know exactly what will happen. As prime minister, when I move a lever, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Rajiv Gandhi’s first two years in office were the “Camelot years”, said India Today Group Editorial Director (Publishing) Raj Chengappa. But they didn’t last due to defining missteps.

Senior journalist Shekhar Gupta described how the Shah Bano case and the decision to unlock the Ram temple gates in Ayodhya as “blunders that redefined Indian politics,” angering the Congres’s support bases and accelerating the rise of the BJP.

The Bofors scandal was the moment when the Rajiv Gandhi government unraveled. Despite the fear of retaliation and the possibility of the magazine being shut down, India Today chose to publish the explosive revelations that directly targeted a sitting Prime Minister.

The episode also examined the Mandal Commission, which Raj Chengappa termed “the biggest social upheaval India has seen,” fracturing politics along caste lines. Simultaneously, militancy reared its ugly head in Kashmir after the alleged rigging of the 1987 election.

“We saw defeated candidates, complete moderates, switch from the ballot to the bullet, with guns provided by Pakistan,” said former editor Inderjit Badhwar.

The demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, was branded as a moment of institutional failure. The magazine had warned that the structure was in danger but the PV Narasimha Rao government sat on its hands.

When the mosque was brought down, “dome by dome”, there was no other headline possible but ‘Nation’s Shame’, given by Aroon Purie, recounted Badhwar.

The aftermath of Babri were communal riots, the 1993 Mumbai blasts and the arrival of mass-casualty terrorism.

The episode closed with Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination and the economic reset under PV Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh. Liberalisation “lifted the shackles” on the economy, unleashing private enterprise and a new middle class.

India Today @ 50 airs weekly over five weeks. Episode 3 will air on Saturday, December 27 at 8 pm, with repeats on Sunday, December 28 at 10 am and 9 pm. Episode 4 airs on Saturday, January 3 at 8 pm, with repeats on Sunday, January 4 at 10 am and 9 pm. The series concludes with Episode 5 on Saturday, January 10 at 8 pm, repeating on Sunday, January 11 at 10 am and 9 pm.

- Ends

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