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Babri demolition report sends
RSS, BJP squirming
But is
the saffron parivar ready to learn any lessons? Nope, if latest
response are any clue
Sach Kanwal
Singh
 NEW
DELHI:
After 17 long years, 48 shameless extensions and 399 hearings, and
significantly after many a regime and many a turns in the body
polity of India, a Commission tasked with probing who and how
demolished the much revered Babri Moque in UP's heartland Ayodhya
hurting sentiments of the Muslim community and all sane people
across the world, has finally submitted its so called confidential
report to the Prime Minister.
In keeping with
the way Indian politics and law machinery works, the report leaked
out in torrents, but one thing became clear. Justice (retired) M S
Liberhan, though blaming several senior leaders of the BJP for the
demolition of the Masjid on
December 6,
1992, has not really been able to pin down L K Advani as Guilty
Number One and the RSS as the organization that deserves immediate
ban for its hate agenda.
The four-volume
report did hold then Congress prime minister P V Narasimha Rao
responsible for not doing enough to stop the demolition. Rao is no
more. Incidentally, Rao was the home minister when murderous mobs
led by Congress leaders like Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar killed
and burnt alive hundreds of Sikhs in Delhi in 1984.
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 Shame Writ Large
Who can
forget Advani's words? "Kar Sewaks are not going to Ayodhya to
sing bhajan kirtan." Clearly, Advani knew and guided them about
what they were to do. And who can turn his face away from what
Kalyan Singh asserted before the Liberhan Commission. He said
the demolition of the mosque was an act of God and he had no
regrets, no repentance, no sorrow and no grief. Uma Bharti, the
quintessential child of the RSS, was her candid ssself even on
Tuesday: “Like a good commander, I am ready to own
responsibility for the demolition and I have no problem even if
I’m hanged on the issue.” |
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India is yet to
even mull about probing the Indian Army attack on Goden Temple of
Sikhs, Sri Akal Takht and many other gurdwaras that left thousands
of innocents dead, the Akal Takht in rubble and the Sikh psyche hurt
beyond repair.
The Sikh
community stood in solidarity with the Muslim minority on the
question of Babri Mosque demolition and has been demanding justice.
The Liberhan
report blamed L K Advani for creating an environment that led to the
demolition of the mosque through his rath yatra in 1990 but he was
not held directly responsible.
The others
reportedly named in the report were the BJP’s Murli Manohar Joshi,
Uma Bharti and Vinay Katiyar; VHP’s Ashok Singhal and former Uttar
Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh. Hindu activists demolished the
16th century Babri Masjid on
December 6, 1992
as Advani and senior BJP leaders looked on from a distance. Many of
these leaders are being tried in UP courts for alleged complicity.
Over 2,000
people died in the communal riots that followed. The 16th century
Babri Mosque in Ayodhya was destroyed by a 150,000-strong mob
belonging allegedly to the right-wing Hindu revivalist organisation
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its affiliates in the presence of
top BJP leaders.
Even
though the saffron parivar is being largely blamed in this case, the
Congress itslef has for long led a policy of alternating soft and
hard varieties of Hindutva. Even now, it may choose not to table the
report immediately in Parliament, but if accepted, the report will
lead to fresh cases against those indicted.
Advani’s
discharge has been challenged in the Supreme Court. The case against
Kar sewaks (religious volunteers) who demolished the mosque is
pending in the special CBI court,
Lucknow.
The Liberhan commission was appointed within 10 days with a brief to
go into the sequence of events leading up to the demolition. It was
given six months to give a report, but took 17 years.
1
July 2009
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