Claim

It was the RSS and BJP's Ram Rath Yatra that started the Ram Mandir movement.

“वो तो संघ और बीजेपी का राम रथ निकला। उसी ने उस आंदोलन को शुरू करा।”

Rationale

The claim gets the chronology backwards. The Ram Mandir (Ram Janmabhoomi) movement was formally launched by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in 1984, with earlier roots in the 1949 placement of idols inside the Babri Masjid; major milestones like the 1986 opening of the mosque's locks and the 1989 shilanyas all preceded L.K. Advani's BJP Ram Rath Yatra of September–October 1990. The yatra was organised to support and amplify the already-running VHP-led agitation and greatly mainstreamed it politically, but it did not start the movement. There is a partial grain of truth in that the VHP is an RSS affiliate within the Sangh Parivar, but the specific assertion that the Rath Yatra began the movement is chronologically false.

Evidence

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Rath_Yatra Advani's Ram Rath Yatra ran September–October 1990 and was organised by the BJP explicitly to SUPPORT an agitation already being led by the VHP — the yatra joined an existing movement rather than starting it. ✓ reachable · archived
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Janmabhoomi The VHP openly launched the Ram Janmabhoomi movement in 1984 (Dharma Sansad, formation of the Ram Janmabhoomi Mukti Yagna Samiti), six years before the Rath Yatra. ✓ reachable · archived
• https://www.scobserver.in/journal/timeline-key-events-in-the-babri-masjid-ram-mandir-controversy/ Timeline of key events: idols placed in the Babri Masjid in 1949, VHP campaign from 1984, district court orders gates opened for Hindu worship in 1986, VHP shilanyas (foundation ceremony) on 9 November 1989 — all predating the 1990 yatra. ✓ reachable · archived
• https://thefederal.com/category/news/rss-at-100-vishwa-hindu-parishad-ram-janmabhoomi-movement-220883 It was the VHP (under Ashok Singhal) that drove and launched the Ram Janmabhoomi movement from 1984, building on the 1983 Ekatmata Yagna. ✓ reachable · archived