It was 12.02 in the afternoon. It was the high noon of Hindu militancy.

Without the covert rebellion of the Uttar Pradesh police and sections of the other security forces, the storming of the shrine would have been impossible.

An amazingly agile Srish Chandra Dixit, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) vice president was seen clambering over a ledge trying to secure entry. He slipped twice as he tried to scale the height, till policemen standing above gave him a helping hand. He was after all, their former director-general.

Later, after the show was over, Dixit sat in a room in the police outpost outside the shrine and addressed a full-fledged press conference.

By 3 p.m., the morning's prize catch, VHP general secretary Ashok Singhal, had 'escaped' from the hospital where he was allegedly convalescing after being tapped by a police lathi. Singhal resurfaced shortly, to address a public meeting in curfew-bound Ayodhya on Thursday and to lead the second assault on the shrine on Friday.

It was tiredness that must have told on the guardians of the law when the sadhus hijacked a UP roadways bus. They had been shoved inside it around 9.20 a.m. and had appeared to accept their arrest calmly.When it came hurtling back, few realised it had been hijacked.

The hijacking of the bus marked the turning point in the assault on the shrine.

This was the biggest mystery of them all. How were kar sevaks pouring out onto the streets when the town was supposedly under curfew? And why were policemen seated outside Hanuman Garhi grinning sheepishly as the frenzied volunteers went past screaming.

An even more mysterious development followed. Suddenly, the most active contingent of the police, led by the intrepid Sikh officer, the hero of the dawn battle of the bridge was withdrawn from the Hanuman Garhi area... It was 11 a.m. As if at the command of an invisible hand, the slogan-shouting crowd seated at the crossroad a little outside Hanuman Garhi got up and, in a mad rush, surged towards the alley leading to the shrine. The die had been cast...

Just before mid-day, the law-enforcing machinery gave up the battle.

Before anybody could figure out what was happening, the collapsible gate had opened, letting in some 300 kar sevaks into the complex. Senior Police and Border Security Force (BSF) officers swung into action and managed to prevent the remaining part of the hysterical mob from gaining entry. In fact, they were not too keen anyway; the vanguard had got inside. The objective had been achieved. Within seconds the vanguard began dismantling the iron grills on the wall separating the Babari Masjid from the Ram Chabutra. Some managed to scale the dome, unfurl a saffron flag and commence demolition with bare hands and a few strikes. The maniacal strength of the fanatics was incredible. Before they were turfed out of the complex by CRPF jawans, they had succeeded in wrecking considerable damage. True, the main structure stood firm. But the fact was that they had reached their target and successfully commenced demolition. It was a great symbolic victory.

Indeed it was Diwali that night in Ayodhya, Faizabad, Lucknow and countless cities of UP. Muslims stayed huddled, fear writ large on their faces. The State had failed. Indian secularism had been dealt a body blow by Hindu zealots.