Everything was done in the open: Uma Bharti on Babri demolition

Ravi S Singh

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 19

Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti has refused to step down from her position after Supreme Court revived conspiracy charges against her and some senior BJP leaders in the 26-year-old Babri Masjid demolition case.  

Responding to calls to resign in the face of the charges, Bharti said there was no conspiracy involved and “everything was declared and in public space”.

“I was openly and enthusiastically part of the Ayodhya Ram Temple movement. I was present in Ayodhya on the day mosque was demolished. In mind, word and deed, I was part of the movement. It has been my declared wish for construction of Ram Temple. (sic) I am unapologetic and unrepentant,” she claimed, adding that she was willing to face the gallows for the cause.

In a significant statement, she also claimed that it was Ram temple movement had helped bring the BJP to power at the centre, adding that she had once “given up the post of chief minister for the cause of Indian flag”.

Responding to Congress’s demand for her resignation, she said Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi were all present at former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s residence when Sikhs were massacred in 1984.
“Must they also resign?” Bharti asked.

She also claimed that the interference from “Left-controlled media and government controlled Doordarshan” had caused the dispute to remain unsettled for years.

“Doordarshan and Left-controlled Media used to abuse us for being Hindu, day in and day out. We were made to feel apologetic for being a Hindu and devotees of Ram,” Bharti said, adding that the dispute would have otherwise been settled amicably.