New Delhi: Quick points:- BJP made 'false promises' and 'misled' the Centre
- Negotiations by BJP were to create a 'political veil'
- BJP created 'time-saving façade' to 'lull Centre into inaction'
- Role of BJP cannot be limited to that of 'mere support'
- 'No difference' in agendas of BJP and RSS
- BJP was a 'frontal' organisation for RSS
- BJP/Sena states used official resources to mobilise Kar Sevaks
- Language of Ram Janambhoomi movement leaders 'urged' kar sevaks into demolition
It's an unsparing indictment of its most senior leaders. The Liberhan Report, which examines who was responsible for the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, describes the event as "a tailor-made exercise", fuelled by, and then executed with the complete knowledge of the BJP.
The demolition was "neither spontaneous, nor unpreventable," states the report, adding that the BJP "misled" the Centre and then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao by making "false promises" that the mosque would not be demolished. The report is especially harsh about then UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, accusing him of forcing his administration into "ineffectiveness".
Neither Atal Behari Vajpayee nor L K Advani is singled out for indictment in the report, but the report says the BJP leaders who appeared before the Liberhan Commission were "totally unrepentant." Advani had deposed before the commission, but Vajpayee didn't. The report says witnesses who appeared before the Commission "consistently protected" Advani, Vajpayee, and Murli Manohar Joshi. A day before the demolition, Vajpayee had left Ayodhya.
The report says the BJP created a "time-saving facade" to "lull centre into inaction." Any negotiations by the BJP about security were used to create a "political veil", says the report.
Justice Liberhan says there was no difference in the agendas of the BJP and its parent body, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS). So, Liberhan describes the BJP as little more than a "frontal organization" for the RSS.
The logistical arrangements for demolition were co-ordinated between BJP, VHP, RSS. The role of the BJP "cannot be limited to mere support", says Liberhan. Further, BJP and Shiv Sena states, he finds, used official resources to mobilise Kar Sevaks who were "urged" into demolition by the "language of Ram Janambhoomi movement leaders."
The report says on December 6, 1992, L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Vijayraje Scindia made "feeble requests" to Kar Sevaks to come down. The "hidden intention of one and all" was to accomplish demolition, says Liberhan, adding the icons of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement could "just as easily" have prevented the demolition.
The report says there's "no doubt that the second rung of BJP was involved in the actual demolition" - the second rung includes leaders like Kalyan Singh and Uma Bharti, who are both no longer with the BJP.