in terms of death toll, the five years before mid-January 1993 (when the post-demolition fervour had spent itself) with the five subsequent years, one finds a contrast of thousands vs dozens. One cannot deny that among the unforeseen effects of the demolition, the best surprise was a salutory psychological shock which made people reconsider the Hindu-Muslim polarization. This can hardly be counted as a “merit” of the demolishers, but all the same, it ought to cool tempers when the demolition is evaluated in retrospect.
