“I will always be proud that I had participated in this [Ram Janmabhoomi] campaign,” senior BJP leader Uma Bharti said on Thursday after she appeared before a special CBI court here in connection with the Babri Masjid demolition case in which she is an accused.
After recording her statement, Ms. Bharti told media she considered the Indian law as good as the vedas, the court as a temple and the judge sitting in it a “Bhagwan ka roop” (form of God).
Ms. Bharti, a former Chief Minister, however, did not comment on a question on her alleged role in the demolition, citing legal procedure.
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“I will not comment on what happened there [in court].”
The special court is in the process of recording the statements of the accused in the demolition case, which includes many senior members of the BJP and the VHP, after the closing of the evidence by the prosecution.
Ms. Bharti’s lawyer Mankeshwar Tripathi told reporters that she had pleaded innocent and dismissed the charges against her. “When she had no role, when there was a conspiracy against her, she had to reject [the charges],” he said.
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The Babri Masjid was razed by a mob of karsevaks on December 6, 1992.
Ms. Bharti reminisced her involvement with the Ram Janmabhoomi campaign.
“This has been a long fight, for 500 years. There has rarely been any other campaign in the world to have crossed five centuries,” she said. She said she had participated in the campaign due to a feeling and ‘faith’ of “Ram Bhakti” and not for any political gain.
She also said she was willing to offer her life for the Ganga, Tiranga (tricolour), gau (cow), gareeb (poor), nari (women) and Lord Ram.