Rao’s desperation to protect his own minority government also clouded his instincts. Salman Khurshid says, ‘The tragedy about Rao sahib is that his attempt to do consensus building is what destroyed him.’109 This ‘consensus building’ was driven by Narasimha Rao’s interest in appeasing both the Hindu as well as Muslim vote bank, instead of a single-minded focus on protecting the mosque. Rao wanted to protect the mosque and protect Hindu sentiments and protect himself. He ended up with the mosque destroyed, Hindus unattracted to the Congress, and his own reputation in tatters.
