The Justice Liberhan Commission , which probed the sequence of events that led to the Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, submitted its report to the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on June 30, 2009, 16 years later.
Headed by Justice M. S. Liberhan, set up on December 16, 1992, the Commission was initially asked to give a report in three months. However, it could do so only after over 16 years that saw 399 sittings and 48 extensions.
Here are some key conclusions drawn by the Liberhan Commission of Inquiry.
158.6 As is evident from the evidence, in order to support the prerequisites for such a movement, the finances required were channelled from the coffers of the various Sangh Parivar organisations through various banks to accounts held in the names of various organisations and individuals to carry out the innumerable acts needed for the movement.
158.7 Apart from the inflow of the cash from unidentifiable sources, cash was also transferred and transacted through banks to the recipient organisations. The RSS, VHP, BJP and also the other members of the Sangh Parivar raised funds for conducting the movement from time to time. The recipient organisations were mostly the Ram Janam Bhoomi Nyas, Bharat Kalyan Pratishtan, Yishwa Hindu Parishad, Ram Janambhoomi Nyas Paduka Pujan Nidhi, Shri Ram Janambhoomi Nyas Shri Ram Shila Pujan, Jan Hiteshi and the accounts were operated by Onkar Bhave, Mahant Paramhans Ramchander Das, Nritya Gopal Das, Gurjan Singh and Narad Saran, Acharya Giriraj Kishore, Vishnu Hari Dalmia, Nana Bhagwat, Jaswant Rai Gupta, BP Toshniwal, Sitaram Agarwal, Ashok Singhal, Rameshwar Dyal, Prem Nath, Champat Rai, Surya Krishan, Yashwant Bhatt, Avdesh Kumar Das Shastri etc.
Also read | Report of the Liberhan Ayodhya Commission of Inquiry - Full Text
158.8 In short, suffice it to say that the amounts transacted exceeded many tens of Crores of rupees which were utilised for effecting the events of December 6th, 1992.
158.9 The utilisation of such huge monies is a categorical pointer to the planning and preplanning carried out for the entire process of the movement commencing with mobilisation onwards right up till the very demolition itself. Prognosis of the evidence leads to the conclusion that the mobilisation of the karsevaks and their convergence to Ayodhya and Faizabad was neither spontaneous nor voluntary. It was well orchestrated and planned. In conformity with the army-like discipline of the organisations like the RSS, the manner in which the arrangements and mobilisation was carried out does not corroborate the theory that the convergence or the mobilisation of such a large number of karsevaks was for symbolic karsevaalone.
158.10 The theory or the claim made by the leaders of the movement or the icons, from political or social organisations, does not carry conviction to conclude that the demolition was carried out by the karsevaks spontaneously out of coxcrusioxs sheer anger or emotions. The mode of assault, the small number of karsevaks who carried out the demolition and the constraints of the space to accommodate the number of people, veiling of the identity of the karsevaks entering the domes, the removal of the idols and the cash box from under the dome and the subsequent reinstallation in the make-shift temple, construction of the makeshift temple, availability of instruments and material for demolition and for the swift construction of the make-shift temple categorically leads to the conclusion and finding that the demolition was carried out with great painstaking preparation and preplanning. The involvement of quite a number of karsevaks for carrying out the demolition ordinarily could not have been kept secret from people like the Chief Minister who admittedly has a number of sources of information; or from KS Sudershan whowas heading the RSS while their Swayamsevaks were detailed on the spot for each and every act required to be carried out; or local leaders like Vinay Katiyar or Ashok Singhal or the persons present at the spot prior to December 6“, 1992.
159. The sequence of events leading to, and all the facts and circumstances relating to, the occurrence in the Ram Janambhoomi Babri MasJid Complex at Ayodhya on 6th December, 1992 in voting the destruction of the Ram Jnnnm66oomi Babri MasJid structure;
Also read | Babri Masjid demolition was planned: Liberhan
159.1 The factual matrix and the contextual elements leading up to the demolition of the Three-Domed disputed structure in Ayodhya has been painstakingly laid out in this report. The voluminous evidence tendered before the Commission as well as the statements of the large number of witnesses has been finely distilled and after winnowing the chaff from the grain, the entire timeline, shorn of the obfuscating embroidery by loquacious persons, has been laid bare for posterity.
159.2 The factual matrix presented in the preceding chapters is supported by strong, undeniable and documentary evidence for the most part.
159.3 The single-minded agenda of the RSS and the VHP; and the extremely patient and focused manner in which the handful of ideologues and theologians manipulated the common masses and turned them into a frenzied mob,capable of acts of the greatest depravity agenda, is unparalleled in recent times.
159.4 It is established that the events of and leading up to the 6“ of December in the birthplace of the virtuous Lord Ram considered an incarnation of God and the ideal king, were tainted by a joint conspiratorial enterprise. A
handful of malevolent leaders unabashedly invoked the name of the paragon of tolerance to turn peaceful communities into intolerant hordes.
159.5 The factual matrix also yields indisputable evidence that lured by the prospect of power or wealth, a rank of leaders emerged within the BJP, RSS, VHP, Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal etc. who were neither guided by any ideology nor imbued with any dogma nor restrained by any moral trepidation. These leaders saw the “Ayodhya Issue” as their road to success and sped down this highway mindless of the casualties they scattered about. These leaders were the executioners wielding the sword handed to them by the ideologues.
Liberhan probe was India’s longest running inquiry commission
159.6 The hands that tore down the disputed structure and shredded the very fabric of society belonged to the common man. He had no reason to fear or hate the masonry structure or the neighbour with whom he and his family had lived in peace till the moment that his better sense was drowned in the cacophony of religious righteousness and the zealot’s rhetoric. Mobs, by their very nature, are incapable of discerning right from wrong. The remorse which is their constant shadow for the remainder of their mortal lives is their highest punishment.
