The APCC on Wednesday sought a review of the Special CBI Court’s verdict on the demolition of Babri Masjid. The court acquitted senior BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani and 32 others in the case.
In a statement, APCC president S. Sailajanath said, “If none is guilty, who had razed the ancient mosque to the ground?”
“Of the 49 accused, 17 had died, and the remaining have been acquitted. In a verdict delivered 28 years after the incident took place on December 6, 1992, the CBI says there is no need for any witnesses,” Mr. Sailajanath said.
Referring to the court’s ruling that the “demolition was a spontaneous act and not a pre-meditated conspiracy,” the Congress leader sought to know why did it take 28 years for the court to arrive at this conclusion.
Black day: CPI
In Anantapur, CPI national general secretary K. Narayana said, “Letting off the accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case because the CBI does not have any evidence is a ‘black day’ for the justice delivery system, democracy, and secular principles of the country.”
‘Rape cases on the rise’
Mr. Sailajanath, in his statement, also expressed anguish over the death of a Dalit girl, who was allegedly gang-raped and strangulated at Hathras in U.P., while undergoing treatment at a Delhi hospital.
Demanding stringent action against the culprits, he said instances of rape were on the rise in U.P. “In Andhra Pradesh, atrocities against Dalits have increased,” he alleged.
Signature campaign
Meanwhile, APCC State vice-president Gangadhar said the party would launch a signature campaign on October 2 against the Modi government’s “anti-farmer policies” that reflected in the three Acts that were “detrimental to the interests of the farming community.”
Addressing the media in Vijayawada, he said the YSRCP government in the State was toeing the Modi government’s line by proposing to fix smart meters to all the agricultural power connections as a part of the reforms suggested by the Centre.
The party would collect two-crore signatures from farmers, farm workers, mandi traders and others associated with agriculture in Visakhapatnam on October 2.
Mr. Gangadhar, along with party city in-charge president N. Narasimha Rao, NSUI secretary Srinivas, and Seva Dal secretary Gous, released a poster on the proposed signature campaign.