The VHP shot to prominence (or notoriety) with the campaign for the liberation of the Hindu sacred sites in Ayodhya, Mathura and Kashi. This issue had been on its agenda since its foundation in 1964, but became a priority in 1986. That was when a major concession to Muslim pressure on an issue of the separate Muslim Personal Law (the Shah Bano affair) forced the Rajiv Gandhi government to make a compensatory gesture to Hindu sensibilities.
