By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
New Delhi: Anupam Gupta, lawyer for the Liberhan Commission blamed L. K. Advani for the destruction of the Babri Masjid on 6th December 1992.
In an interview given to the news magazine Outlook, Gupta said that “it is inconceivable that the masjid could have been demolished without the movement preceding it.”
Recent media reports have said that longest running inquiry commission of India is going to come out with its final report in a few months. Advani have been left off easily and the final report will suggest that he had a peripheral role in the demolition, according to media reports.
Gupta said that he doesn’t believe that “L.K. Advani’s role is peripheral either to the Ram Janmabhoomi movement or the demolition of December 6.” The movement lead by Advani started from Somnath temple in Gujarat was termed as “anti-history of secularism in India” by Gupta.
Blaming Advani and his movment, Gupta said that “[i]t was the Ayodhya movement which culminated in the demolition of the Babri Masjid and Advani carried the movement on his shoulders. Whatever be Advani’s role in the actual demolition, and regardless of whether he personally intended the demolition or not.” Gupta argued that if it was not for this movement, the masjid could not have been demolished.
He said that the idealogy behind this movment should be covered by the final report of the Liberhan Commission.
Among the many differences that he had with Justice Liberhan was the role of ideology and history in the probe. He said that “I’m convinced that the probe cannot yield anything fruitful or enduring unless it addresses the ideological moorings of the movement. In my view, the report will be worth very little if these aspects and issues are sidestepped or underplayed.”
He claimed that he was asked to tone down his questioning of Advani. Advani appeared before the Liberhan Commission in 2001, when he was the Home Minister of India.
Gupta who was appointed lawyer for the commission in 1999, said he has not been consulted since January 2007 by Justice Liberhan. He said that he is not the author of the report nor he collaborated for the final report.