Demolition gladdened sevaks, not leaders — RSS chief

"The two lakh kar sevaks, who were sitting on the ground and the sants sitting on the Ram katha kunj manch, a platform at a distance of about 300 metres from the structure, were happy when the domes were falling", he said while being cross examined by central government counsel lala Ram Gupta.

But the leaders, including L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, were "unhappy" and described the incident as "unfortunate" as "it (demolition) was not according to law", he said.

Sudarshan, whose further cross-examination would continue on March 21, said the leaders present at the Ram katha kunj manch, from where they used to give instructions to the kar sevaks, did not have any plan that the kar sevaks would go upto the structure.

Sudarshan, however, said "I may mention here that once it finalised to construct Ram Temple there, the existing structure had to be demolished, but leaders were unhappy as they wanted to do it in a legal manner".

He said the leaders of the VHP, BJP and RSS had assured the government and the Supreme Court that no harm would be caused to the structure adding it was the anger of the kar sevaks that resulted in demolition.

Asked how the kar sevaks managed to go up to the disputed structure, Sudarshan said they had entered the site from the rear after breaking the barricades and pelting stones on the security personnel deployed there.

Asked why his predecessor Rajju Bhaiya had requestedformer Premier P V Narasimha Rao to take appropriate steps reagarding acquisition of land by the Uttar Pradesh government before December six, when already there was a plan to carry out the kar seva, he said either way the court order was not to come in the way of the programme.

When the state started acquiring land it included two acres of land of the VHP and "in case the court order was to come against us, we would have got back the land where actually the kar seva was held".

Earlier in the day, the Commission examined as witness Sanjay Kaw, a Delhi-based journalist who had gone to Ayodhya in the guise of a kar sevak.

A day before the demolition, Kaw had reported that the structure would be pulled down as there appeared to be a connivance between the kar sevaks, police and the administration.