Liberhan panel had indicted BJP top guns for ‘intolerance’

Saurabh Malik
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 30

Justice Manmohan Singh Liberhan, who probed the 1992 demolition of Babri mosque at Ayodhya, had indicted the perpetrators for having reduced “the oldest civilisation to stark intolerance and barbarianism, all for petty political gains”.

2,000 lives were lost across India in the riots that followed the Babri demolition

In his 1,029-page report, Justice Liberhan admonished senior BJP leaders, calling them “pseudo-moderates” and “icons” of the movement. “It cannot be assumed even for a moment that LK Advani, AB Vajpayee and MM Joshi did not know the designs of the Sangh Parivar,” said the one-man commission in its findings.

The Liberhan Commission, set up by the PV Narasimha Rao government days after the Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992, submitted its report to the Centre in June 2009.

“Unable to hold even these pseudo-moderates innocent of any wrongdoings…. This commission has no hesitation in condemning the pseudo-moderates for their sins of omission,” it said.

The commission had also indicted Uma Bharti, Shankersinh Vaghela (has quit BJP), late party leaders Pramod Mahajan and Vijaya Raje Scindia, RSS ideologue K Govindacharya and Shiv Sena’s then chief late Bal Thackeray. Among the bureaucrats named in the report were then UP Principal Secretary (Home) Prabhat Kumar, IG (Security) AK Saran and Faizabad SSP DB Roy.

“(Then CM) Kalyan Singh entered into a ‘joint common enterprise’ for the purpose of demolition of the disputed structure. This was (either) to construct or… show to kar sevaks that the Ram temple construction had been started by the government. This was essential for use in future elections,” the report said.

“The police and the administration were openly supporting the RSS agenda. There was active and willing collusion between the state administration and the political executive… did not take even token steps to stop the demolition or control the mob.

“The leaders saw the Ayodhya issue as their road to success and sped down this highway mindless of the casualties they scattered around. The BJP was and remains an appendage of the RSS, which had the purpose of only providing an acceptable veneer to the less popular decisions and a facade for the brash members of the Sangh Parivar,” the report noted.

‘Events were not spontaneous’

The court has decided the case according to its conscience and proof available to it. It stands beyond doubt that the events of the day were neither spontaneous, nor unplanned, nor an unforeseen overflowing of people’s emotion. No evidence, lead or information was provided to the commission with respect to the conspiracy. — Justice Manmohan Singh Liberhan who headed probe panel

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.