Dismissing the Bharatiya Janata Party’s contention that spontaneous action by “kar sevaks” led to the demolition of the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid structure at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram said on Tuesday that it was a “pre-planned, calculated and cold-blooded” action.
Replying to a debate in the Lok Sabha on the Liberhan Ayodhya Commission of Inquiry report and the government’s Action Taken Report (ATR) on it, Mr. Chidambaram accused the BJP of breaking “every single promise” made before the Supreme Court, the Central government and the National Integration Council (NIC) on carrying out “kar seva” at the disputed site and protecting the structure.
Though his hour-long reply was drowned in the din created by agitated BJP members who raised noisy slogans in the well of the House and waved booklets, the Minister went on undeterred.
Senior BJP leaders Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and Ananth Kumar did not restrain their party MPs. Speaker Meira Kumar’s appeals to maintain order in the House went unheeded.
Mr. Chidambaram admitted that the then Central government, led by Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, made a wrong political judgment which remained a matter of regret.
He said members of the Sangh Parivar went to Ayodhya with the intention of destroying the structure. “Police and district administration remained a mute spectator during the demolition. RSS controlled every aspect of the Ayodhya movement.”
Quoting from the conclusion of the Liberhan Commission report, the Minister said the RSS, BJP, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena in connivance with the then U.P. government of Kalyan Singh had carried out the demolition.
Brushing aside BJP leader Sushma Swaraj’s rejection of the report, Mr. Chidambaram quoted the evidence in the form of depositions and asked how “kar sevaks” had got shovels, pick axes, iron rods and hammers to the disputed site.
“They [kar sevaks] dug holes in the domes from inside, tied ropes and brought the domes down. The structure was pulled down,” he said. He said senior BJP leaders, including L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, who were present at the Ram Katha Kunj on December 6, 1992, had made no request to the “kar sevaks” not to demolish the structure. Summing up his reply, Mr. Chidambaram said there were two ideas of India – one a secular and the other divisive as propounded by the BJP. “But will it succeed?” he asked and replied that the people had elected the BJP in 1998 but rejected it in 2004 and again in 2009, when people chose the idea of an inclusive India and celebrated its diversity.
“Forget the Liberhan Commission report, your divisive politics was rejected in 2004 and the people of India who are the real masters rejected you and voted for the Congress which stands for an inclusive India and that is the idea of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. An inclusive nation will always prevail,” Mr. Chidambaram said.
