Liberhan report: Deep involvement of the Sangh in the Babari masjid demolition

The Times of India

Liberhan pins Babri blame on Sangh leaders

1 July 2009, 0101 hrs IST, Akshaya Mukul, TNN

NEW DELHI: It was on December 16, 1992 that M S Liberhan, then a judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court, was asked to probe the conspiracy leading to the demolition of Babri Masjid -- an event that took communal polarisation to a new scale, and shaped the politics of the turbulent 1990s.

Seventeen years, 399 sittings, 100 witnesses, 48 extensions and Rs 9 crore later, Justice Liberhan submitted his report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, indicting the BJP and its leaders including L K Advani, and the Sangh Parivar for conspiring to demolish the Mughal-era mosque at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992.

The report, being kept under wraps, also holds BJP leader L K Advani responsible for the demolition, pointing to the Rath Yatra he took out to mobilise support to build a Ram temple where the Masjid stood, and, on the fateful day, for failing to control the crowds he had helped mobilise.

The indictment of other front-ranking Hindutva leaders is sharper, with former UP chief minister Kalyan Singh, Uma Bharti, Murli Manohar Joshi, Ashok Singhal, Vinay Katiyar and others all coming in for severe criticism for their individual culpabilities.
Kalyan, who has since joined Mulayam Singh Yadav, has also been criticised for dodging the inquiry panel.

As for Congress, the criticism is limited to the "inaction" of former PM P V Narasimha Rao who allegedly slept through the demolition.

A big section in the report, likely to be tabled in Parliament in the Budget session, is devoted to the role of Advani and his statements during the cross-examination. The report criticises him for his Rath Yatra and not keeping the saffron combine in control. Faizabad district officials have also been severely indicted for their role during the demolition.

Given the string of extensions to the commission, submission of the report came as a surprise. Naturally so, considering that half of India's T-20 squad was in primary school when Justice Liberhan was tasked with the probe.

Then again, Justice Liberhan has been consistently maintaining that he will take longer.

Not surprisingly, Justice Liberhan had to handle a barrage of questions on the delay. The retired chief justice of Madras and Andhra High Courts, however, defended himself, pointing to the stalling and obstructionist manoeuvres used to derail the probe. "I did not receive cooperation from few people," he said. Though he did not name names, the finding in the report about the delaying tactics of Kalyan and others can be taken to suggest that the reference could be to leaders of BJP and Sangh Parivar.

Repeated efforts to draw him out on the issue did not succeed. "I do not want to comment," he said, though he remarked that he was feeling "relieved".

Under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, government has six months to share the findings of Justice Liberhan along with the action taken report (ATR) with Parliament. However, the tabling of the report in the two Houses will depend on how swiftly the government wants to act on the recommendations. In case conspiracy charge is to be probed further, government can ask CBI, already seized with the criminal case about demolition, to probe further.

With strong likelihood of Congress trying to derive mileage from the report, chances of the voluminous document being tabled in the coming session of Parliament are high. Elections in Maharashtra, due in September-October, may serve as another incentive for early tabling.