By IANS,
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Monday launched a scathing attack on the government, demanding the immediate tabling in parliament of the Liberhan Commission of Inquiry report that has reportedly indicted its leaders in the 1992 razing of the Babri mosque.
Led by BJP leader L.K. Advani, the party — both inside and outside parliament — accused the government of leaking out the report in a bid to divide the opposition ahead of the staggered Jharkhand assembly elections that start Wednesday.
“Why is the report is 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 itself,” an animated Advani said 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 mosque razing.
“The report was not even discussed in the parliament, how did the newspaper get it?” an incensed Advani asked, his words heard in silence by everyone in the Lok Sabha.
He 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.
“I urge the government to place the report (in parliament) immediately.”
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 razing on Dec 6, 1992.
But Advani insisted — as he has done earlier — that he was sad about the demolition of the mosque.
At the same time, he added that it was his desire that a grand temple be constructed on the ruins of the mosque.
Outside parliament, other BJP leaders spoke on 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.
“The government has to tell us how it was leaked. It is our belief this is a conspiracy of the government as it was being cornered by the opposition on many issues,” he said.
Naidu referred to the opposition protests over the poor deal accorded to sugarcane farmers that paralysed parliament last week.
He also spoke about former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, who has come under attack from the non-Congress opposition for allegedly indulging in large-scale corruption when he governed the state.
“They do not want any discussion on these issues,” he said. He added that he too was shocked that Vajpayee had indicted for the mosque razing.
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.”