Terming the Babri Masjid demolition as the most serious assault on the secular edifice of the Indian state, the Communist Party of India-Marxist on Thursday accused the Narasimha Rao government of tacitly allowing it.

"The Narasimha Rao government tacitly allowed the demolition of Babri Masjid. Twenty thousand paramilitary forces, which were deployed at Ayodhya and Faizabad, were given instructions not to act when the mosque was demolished on this day in 1992," CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat said.

Addressing a meeting to mark the 15th anniversary of the Babri Mosque demolition, he said the then central government was duty bound to maintain the status quo in Ayodhya in accordance with the Supreme Court order.

He said the BJP reaped the electoral gains from Babri Mosque demolition and from the "cycle of communal rightwing politics unleashed by communal forces. Babri Mosque demolition is a turning point and the Sangh Parivar is still reaping the consequences."