Deep infiltration of the government and of the administration by pro-Sangh elements

Indian Express

'Traces of Babri villains thrive in every pillar of the system'

Maneesh Chhibber
Nov 24, 2009 at 1137 hrs New Delhi:

Underlining that bureaucrats helped the then Kalyan Singh government in Uttar Pradesh to subvert the system so that the Sangh Parivar could achieve its goal of demolishing the Babri Masjid, the Justice Liberhan Commission of Inquiry is said to have observed that the infiltration of the government and of the administration by pro-Sangh elements was complete.

Not just this. Sources have told The Indian Express that the Liberhan report goes on to say that its “traces and remnants are still thriving all over the country,” and pose as grave a threat as ever — continuing to spread in scope to “encompass every pillar of the Constitutional system.”

After coming to power, Kalyan Singh, Liberhan is learnt to have observed, worked to identify and replace officers who could have resisted his attempts and stopped the demolition. Transfer was a weapon used with alarming frequency, almost always to replace these officers with pliant ones. The transfers resulted in giving the Sangh Parivar and its affiliates a free run on the disputed structure, the report is said to state.

Liberhan is said to be most scathing in his condemnation of Kalyan Singh and his ministerial colleagues and officers. He is learnt to have said that Kalyan, his ministers and their chosen officers created circumstances that led to the demolition and split Hindus and Muslims, resulting in massacres across the country. And that at every step, the state government supported the imminent demolition by tacit, open and material support.

Liberhan is also learnt to have observed that as part of the same game plan, the state government stationed fresh recruits to the armed police in Faizabad and Ayodhya and these recruits got so close to the kar sevaks that they wouldn’t have fired at them even if they had been asked to do so.

Referring to the role or the lack of it of the then P V Narasimha Rao-led Congress government during the build-up and afterwards, Liberhan is learnt to have said the Central government was crippled by failure of intelligence inputs as well as the fact that the matter was before the Supreme Court.

One of the key conclusions of Liberhan is said to be that Kalyan Singh stood guard against any pre-emptive and preventive action by the Union Government or the Supreme Court. He is also said to have observed that Kalyan tied the hands of security forces and agencies by issuing orders that directed them not to fire at kar sevaks come what may. Liberhan is learnt to have found that by leaking information about such directives to the police, the state government further weakened the already-dejected force and ensured that kar sevaks had no fear.