Hours after the Supreme Court restored criminal conspiracy charges in the Babri Masjid demolition case against some senior Bhartiya Janata Party leaders, Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti said she would not resign and there had been no instructions from the party colleagues to do so.
Ms. Bharti rebutted charges of a criminal conspiracy in the event. “A conspiracy would imply that something was done in secret…whatever happened was in full public view,” she said at a press conference at her residence. “I am proud to have been associated with the Ram Janma Bhoomi movement.”
She said it was hypocritical of the Congress to demand her resignation since, in the aftermath of the Sikh riots in Delhi, in 1984, neither Sonia Gandhi nor Rajiv Gandhi was indicted. “The party that was behind Emergency and the 1984 riots has no right to demand my resignation.”
(PTI quoted her as saying, “Sonia Gandhi was at Rajiv Gandhi’s home when the 1984 Sikh riots happened. Does this mean Soniaji was part of conspiracy?”)
Ms. Bharti said she was ready for questioning “at the shortest of notice” and would be in Ayodhya on Thursday. She had no regrets over her “involvement” and that a temple to Ram “would definitely be built” in the days ahead. “This country is of cow, Ganga, Tirangaa [tricolour] and Ram. Wherever they are insulted, we will fight,” she added.
PTI reports:
Law and order should prevail: Congress
The Congress said the law of the land should prevail in the case and the guilty should be punished.
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, “The Supreme Court has spoken. Let law of the land take its own course without fear or favour. Let justice be done and guilty punished.Law of the land is equal for everyone irrespective of stature, caste, creed, religion or region.”
Will study order before offering comments: BJP
The BJP said it would study in detail the Supreme Court verdict before offering its comments.
Senior party leader and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, however, asserted that his party highly respected its leaders — veterans L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, along with Union Minister Uma Bharti and others — who are to be tried now.
