By IANS,
New Delhi : An angry Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani Monday described as a “breach of privilege of the house” the reported “leak” of the Liberhan Commission report in the media and stated he was personally proud of his “association with the Ayodhya movement”.
He also demanded that the Liberhan report on the Babri Mosque demolition be tabled immediately in parliament.
The BJP senior leader led a scathing attack on the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) for “secretly leaking” the report to media.
“Why is the report not being placed in the house? When we demanded it in the last session, we were told the report would be placed in the house along with action taken report (ATR). Our demand is that the report along with ATR should be tabled today (Monday) itself,” he said.
“It (the commission report appearing in a newspaper) is a breach of privilege of the house…. I have sought immediate placing of this report on the table of the house. Personally, I am proud of my association with the Ayodhya movement,” said Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
Advani said he was shocked when he saw Monday’s edition of the Indian Express, which frontpaged the purported findings of the Liberhan Commission of Inquiry that probed the sequence of events leading to and all facts and circumstances related to the Dec 6, 1992, razing of the mosque.
According to a report in the Indian Express, the Liberhan Commission has indicted former prime minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee and his deputy Advani, besides senior BJP leaders like Murli Manohar Joshi. Later in the day, NDTV television channel said it too has access to the probe report, which reportedly labelled the December 1992 demolition as “tailor made” and blamed Uttar Pradesh’s then chief minister Kalyan Singh for collusion.
Advani said while he could face the challenge of being indicted over the mosque razing that triggered widespread violence in the country, he was appalled that former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee — widely known as a moderate — had been enveloped in the charges.
Advani said he was proud of his association with what came to be known as the Ayodhya movement that sought to build a Ram temple at the site of the 16th century Babri mosque in Ayodhya, about 700 km from here. The movement culminated in the mosque’s demolition. But Advani insisted — as he has done earlier — that he was sad about the demolition of the mosque.
“It is completely untrue that it was a meticulously planned conspiracy. There was no plan, no conspiracy. When this incident happened, I myself wrote in front of the Liberhan Commission that ‘It is the saddest day of my life’,” Advani said.
“I was distressed by the demolition of the structure (Babri Mosque), but so far as the movement is concerned, I feel that to be associated with the Ayodhya movement and to make a magnificent temple there according to a general consensus is the objective of my life and I will keep working for it,” Advani said.
Outside parliament, other BJP leaders spoke in a similar vein.
“The government has to immediately table the Liberhan report and the ATR. We want a discussion, we are ready for it. Why have they kept silent for six months?” BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu told reporters in the parliament complex.
Added BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy: “It took 17 years for this report to get published. The contents are not known to anyone. We are also keen to know the contents of the report.”
He said that the Congress had “selectively leaked” the report to distract the nation “from core issues like the price rise”.
Demanding that it be tabled in parliament, he said: “We are prepared for it… Why is the Congress shying away from submitting the report in parliament?”
His colleague Murli Manohar Joshi said: “Such leakages are made with a political motive. The government should place the entire report in parliament and then we will discuss it.”