Purnima Kothari, the sister of the Kothari brothers — Ram Kumar Kothari and Sharad Kumar Kothari — who died in the 1990 Ayodhya firing incident, said on Friday that before 2014 she used to feel that the sacrifice of her brothers had gone to waste because at that time questions were raised over the existence of Lord Ram. As the Ram Temple is all set to be inaugurated on January 22, Purnima, in an interview with news agency ANI, said she never forgot what happened to her brothers and waited for 33 years for her brothers’ dream to be fulfilled.

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Ram Kumar Kothari was 23 years old and Sharad was 20 when they undertook the Ram Rath yatra in 1990 among other kar sevaks who put the Saffron flag atop the then Babri Masjid structure. They were among those who died during the clashes that followed. “This is my first joy in the last 33 years. My parents are no more. Even I could not hope to witness the opening of the Ram Temple,” Purnima said.

“The temple will stay here for thousands of years and so will the names of my brothers. I am very proud today,” Purnima said.

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‘Why didn’t they shoot at the feet? Why did they kill’

Referring to Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya’s recent remark that the 1990 police firing at Ayodhya was done to control the “anarchic elements”, Purima said if they wanted to stop them, they could have fired at their feet. “Why did they have to kill them?” Purnima said.

On several political parties including the Congress declining the invitation to the Ayodhya event, the sister of the Kothari brothers said it is their misfortune that they were invited and still decided to decline at a time when lakhs of people want to attend the event. “They are politicians and they would perceive everything in the prism of politics,” Purnima said.

Who were the Kothari brothers?

Ram Kumar Kothari and Sharad Kumar Kothari were among the kar sevaks who reached Ayodhya in October 1990. They were based out of Kolkata. According to reports, their troop started from Kolkata and was stopped in Banaras. They took a taxi to Kolapur and from there, they walked 200km to reach Ayodhya on October 30.