Babri report: Vajpayee,Advani,66 others held culpable

The four-volume report running into over 1000 pages and government’s Action Taken Report (ATR) on it were tabled in Parliament by Home Minister P Chidambaram,a day after a leak of the report in The Indian Express.

The Commission,which was set up 10 days after the incident and got 48 extensions,recommended a law providing for exemplary punishment for misuse of religion for acquiring political power and disqualification of political parties and candidates who have religious agenda.

It its ATR,government promised that a bill to check communal violence was being contemplated which will include provisions on some these recommendations while the Election Commission would also be moved to look into them.

The ATR spoke of no punitive action against anyone and merely took note of the cases filed against BJP and Sangh Parivar leaders in various special courts in Lucknow and Rae Bareli.

Unsparing in its attack on top BJP leadership,the Commission listed Vajpayee,Advani and Joshi in a list of 68 leaders of the Parivar and officials as responsible “for leading the country to the brink of communal discord” in their individual culpability.

It said there was no manner of doubt admissible in the culpability and responsibility of the Chief Minister (Kalyan Singh),his ministers and Sangh Parivar leaders like Ashok Singhal,K S Sudarshan and Vinay Katiyaar,who formed a “complete cartel” supported by the icons of the movement like Advani,Joshi and Vajpayee.

Kalyan Singh and his trusted lieutenants spared no lie before the highest authorities of the land to befool them and to tie their hands with the niceties of constitutional democracies.

The Commission analysed the standards of culpability and divided various persons and organisations into three groups. The first group represented those who bore the primary and greatest responsibility for the demolition as they had the means to prevent the assault.

The second group consisted of those who portrayed the benign face of Ayodhya campaign and gave false reassurances to the courts,the people and the nation as a whole.

“Those who have been put in the second category in these conclusions are referred to as ‘pseudo-moderates’ in contrast to the radicals forming part of the first group,” the report said.

All these three groups,the Commission said had “managed to reduce one of the greatest nations and one of the oldest civilisations to the state of stark intolerance and barbarianism– all for petty political gains”.

As the inner core of the Parivar,the top leadership of the RSS,VHP,Bajrang Dal,Shiv Sena and BJP bear the primary responsibility.

“On the one hand,leaders like A B Vajpayee,Murli Manohar Joshi and L K Advani,who are the undeniable public face and leaders of the BJP and thus of the Parivar,constantly protested their innocence and denounced the events of December 1992. On the other hand,it stands established beyond doubt that the events of the day were neither spontaneous,nor unplanned nor unforeseen overflowing of the people’s emotions,nor the result of a foreign conspiracy as some overly imaginative people have tried to suggest,” it said.

Maintaining that it was unable to hold the “pseudo-moderates innocent of any wrongdoings”,the Commission said “it cannot be assumed even for a moment that L K Advani,A B Vajpayee or MM Joshi did not know the designs of the Sangh Parivar.

“Even though these leaders were deemed and used by the Parivar as the publicly acceptable faces and the articulated voices of the Parivar and thus used to reassure the cautious masses,they were party to the decisions which had been taken.”

Observing that the pseudo-moderates could not have defied the mandate of the Sangh Parivar,specially the RSS without having bowed out of public life as leaders of BJP,the Commission said this BJP leadership was “as much a tool in the hands of the RSS as any other organisation or entity and these leaders stood to inherit the political successes engineered by the RSS.”

Referring to Govindacharya’s famous mukhota or a mask remark,the Commission said it may be “more appropriately applied to the BJP leadership at the time collectively.”

“Without leaders like Joshi,Advani and Vajpayee,the RSS might have been able to achieve de facto clout,but would not have been able to legitimise its hold on the Indian system by translating that clout into political success,” the report said.

The Commission said these leaders cannot be given the “benefit of doubt” and exonerated of culpability. “There can be no grated betrayal or crime in a democracy and this Commission have no hesitation in condemning these pseudo-moderates for their sins of omissions.”

Virtually giving a clean chit to the Central government that was then headed by late P V Narasimha Rao,the Commission found that the Centre was crippled by the failure of the intelligence agencies to provide an analysis of the situation.

“It stayed its hand deferring to the honourable Supreme Court which had taken up the matter was dealing with it by giving appropriate directions. The Supreme Court was in turn misled by the pretentious undertakings given by the Uttar Pradesh government and leadership of the movement and the all-is-well reports by its rapporteur Tej Shankar. Without proverbial leg to stand on,there was little either could have done to forestall the determination of the perverted guardians of democracy,who were in control in Uttar Pradesh,” it said.

The Commission also came down heavily on the use of the security apparatus by the Kalyan Singh government and how it was systematically ordered to desist from use of force or resort to firing in any circumstances against the karsevaks or their leaders.

“When push came to shove,the senior police officers were at hand to ensure their men toed the line and that the demolition of the disputed structure was allowed to go ahead with military precision as orchestrated by the leaders present at the spot and carried out by their henchmen whom they refused to identify even before me,” Justice Liberhan said in his report.

By far the worst sin of omission of the state government was leaking into public domain the information that the police personnel had been hobbled and would not react or retaliate under any circumstances.

Emboldened by the self-confessed handicap of the law enforcement agencies of the state,the karsevaks enjoyed a free hand aware that they were at zero risk from them.

“Even the forces demanded by the state government and sent by the Central government for security purposes were intentionally taken away from the scene and deployed at far away places under the garb of meeting the threat of terrorism,” it said.

The Commission also questioned the role of the Supreme Court observer in not alerting the Court to the clearly unfolding duplicity and said it was something that raised concerns about the impartiality and objectivity of the officer who was handpicked by the state High Court.

“Even at the moment that the domes were being pulled down,he was not at the spot,having been delayed by his family members whom he had brought along to witness the spectacle,” the report said.

The Commission also had some words of criticism for some “selective communal Muslim leaders” obsessed with personal or individual influence for enhancing their political influence and self gain for being merely bystanders during the entire period and put forth dismal performance.

The Babri Masjid Action Committee never set up or presented any claim to the disputed structure in any negotiations and there stand was a merely simplicitor denial of the claims of the Sangh Parivar.

“The Muslim leadership provided the rabid Hindu ideologues sufficient cause to instill fear into the common citizens of India,” the report said adding the elite political Muslim leadership was neither responsible nor caring for the welfare of the community.”

On the Commission’s recommendations for establishing a Criminal Justice Commission for monitoring the performance of all law enforcement agencies,government said Law Commission will be requested to study the proposal.