By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net
Bhopal: The former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Ms Uma Bharti, who is president of her Bharatiya Jan Shakti, (BJS), a political outfit which is a breakaway group of Bharatiya Janata Party, has welcomed the Supreme Court of India’s interim order restraining the Union Government and the Sethusamudram Corporation from causing damage in any manner to “alleged” ‘Rama Sethu’ (Adam’s bridge) while implementing the Sethusamudram canal project.
Ms Bharti, who had spearheaded the campaign to oppose the demolition of ‘Rama Sethu’, talking newsmen here said: “It is my victory and that of my followers”.
She said that the Supreme Court’s restraint order is very significant. The issue of ‘Rama Sethu’ is not only religious but of archaeological and national heritage importance. She said that her party hails the Supreme Court’s order.
It may be pointed out here that a Bench consisting of Justices B.N. Agrawal and P.P. Naolekar passed this restraint order till September 14 on an application filed by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy apprehending that Rama Sethu would be damaged in the next few days using RDX explosives.
The Bench issued notice on the application seeking the response of the Union Government, the Sethusamudram Corporation and other respondents on the question of interim relief — not to damage Rama Sethu as well as the main transferred petitions. “Till September 14, the alleged Rama Sethu/Adam’s bridge shall not be damaged in any manner. Dredging activity may be carried out so long as it does not damage Rama Sethu”, the order said.
Meanwhile, answering a query about the selective leakage of Justice Liberhan Commission, probing the circumstances leading to demolition of Babri Masjid, wherein senior BJP leader LK Advani is likely to be let-off while she may be indicted, Ms Bharti said such selective leakages have been there in the past. She straight-forwardly said:” I am ready and will be glad to be hanged for the demolition of Babri Masjid for the sake of construction Ram Mandir and the people of India”.
She said Advani, who was in the vanguard of the campaign and led his “Rath Yatra” for the construction of Ram Mandir at the very spot where Babri Masjid stood, should own up the demolition like a good general as is the tradition in the army. In a battle when an army gets defeated then individual soldiers are not blamed but the general who is leading the warriors owns up the debacle, she opined.
Ms Bharti claimed that there was no conspiracy or pre-planning to demolish the Babri Masjid on that fateful day of December 6, 1992. “If it had been there then all the top leadership of BJP would not have been on one platform at one time on that day”, she tried to explain.
“We wanted that the Babri Masjid structure should fall and we had build an atmosphere for it all over the country but not in the manner the way things unfolded on December 6. The whole atmosphere on that day was very charged and explosive, no doubt, but how the structure collapsed is a mystery,” Ms Bharti expressed ignorance.
“It was all spontaneous act and no pre-planning”, she claimed.
Meanwhile, the Liberhan Commission has got its 41st extension, two days after the Union Government had said in Parliament that the panel would not be given any more time.
The term of the Commission, set up almost soon after the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition, has been extended by two months up to October 31 this year, an official release said on Friday.
Meanwhile, immediately after the brief interaction with newsmen at her residence, Ms Bharti came out as sweets were distributed and BJS workers exploded crackers welcoming the Supreme Court order. ([email protected])