Faced with such sentiments, the BJP abandoned its gung-ho posture on the Ayodhya demolition. Until now, its official stand has been that the incident was a glorious one and that all ``patriotic'' Indians welcomed it.

Grilled by the media today, BJP spokesman M Venkaiah Naidu refused to make any comment on the issue or how the party intended to observe the day. ``It was a long time ago,'' was all he said about the six-year-old incident.

In the meantime, the BJP continued its tirade against the Congress, blaming it for all the country's ills as it had been in power for 45 years. It would take five years to correct the mess that the Congress had made, Naidu said.

The BJP would issue a point-by-point rebuttal of theCongress manifesto tomorrow, he said. Truth had never been a strong point of the Congress, he added, referring to the Congress's portrayal of the BJP as anti-poor, anti-minority, the price rise and so on.