By IANS,
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday termed the Liberhan Commission report “perverse, baseless and ill-founded”, while the Congress blamed its political opponents for playing “divisive politics” and accused them of making false promises to protect the Babri mosque.
At the end of the acrimonious two-day debate on the Liberhan report, marked by repeated adjournments, the BJP contended the temple movement in the run-up to the demolition of the Babri mosque was a “spontaneous popular upsurge” and not a “premeditated conspiracy”.
The Congress, on the other hand, said the BJP had acted in concert with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and other saffron outfits to bring down the 16th century mosque as part of an electoral strategy to polarise the country on religious lines.
The house was repeatedly adjourned as BJP members protested derogatory remarks by Congress MP Beni Prasad Verma against party leaders including former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The uproar reached its peak when Home Minister P. Chidambaram started his reply, but could barely be heard amid slogan shouting by opposition members.
Chidambaram said that every single promise by the BJP leaders and then Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh to protect the mosque was broken.
He admitted that the then P.V. Narasimha Rao government had erred but said that it was an error of political judgement as the former prime minister believed the “false” promises of the BJP leaders.
Extensively quoting from the report, the minister said there was evidence that the Babri mosque was pulled down as pre-planned act. “The plan was conceived by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. It controlled every aspect of Ayodhya movement.”
“The promise to protect Babri masjid was one big lie. The then Uttar Pradesh chief minister lied to the centre and the Supreme Court,” he said.
The minister said that kar sevaks carried hammers and iron rods and the mosque was demolished by pulling it down from inside and not from the top
He said that the BJP had not expressed regret over the demolition and its policies continue to be “divisive”.
Dismissing the Liberhan report, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said the Ramjanmabhoomi movement was not a pre-planned conspiracy, but a spontaneous mass movement fired by religious fervour to build a Ram temple at Ayodhya, and accused the commission of bias by ignoring Narasimha’s role in Dec 6, 1992 demolition.
“The commission has said that the central government had become handicapped. Who was leading it? Narasimha Rao. There was testimony against him. Mulayam Singh Yadav also gave an affidavit against him,” the BJP leader said amid loud applause by her party members.
“But there was no adverse comment against him… on the contrary… Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was never called before the commission, has been talked about 22 times. He has been indicted and has been alleged to have disrupted communal harmony,” she said.
“Clean chit to Rao and Vajpayeeji indicted. If it is not perverse than what is? Findings are perverse, ill-founded and are contrary to the available evidence,” she said.
“It is not a judicial report but a political report by an opportunist. Which wish of Justice Liberhan have you granted? I know his wish list was very long,” Sushma Swaraj said.
“We accept that karsevaks demolished the structure but not under a premeditated conspiracy. We are ready to take punishment for the incident,” she said.
“But do not shy away from the problem. The court has not been able to find a solution for the problem for the last 50 years and it can be resolved only through negotiation.”
Verma debunked the BJP’s claim of a popular movement and accused it of playing a cynical game of electoral politics. His remarks, elicited outrage from the BJP members, who insisted on an unconditional apologyfrom him.
Even Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav and Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav insisted that Verma apologise as Vajpayee was respected across the political spectrum. Though Verma said he regretted if some of his words had hurt the feelings of members, the BJP MPs were not satisfied and did not resume their seats despite requests from the speaker.
The Speaker said the derogatory expression had been removed from the records and Chidambaram expressed regret, but the BJP members were not pacified.