If yesterday the Centre flip-flopped on Kalyan Singh before the Liberhan Commission, today it betrayed utter confusion on a key question: could the Narasimha Rao Government have deployed paramilitary forces that were already in Ayodhya to save the Babri Masjid?Only last month, the Centre argued that Rao could—and should—have bypassed the Kalyan government to save the mosque. Today, however, its counsel calling it his ‘‘personal view,’’ justified the Rao government’s delay in sending troops.In fact, on this question, the Centre’s stand has been hardly consistent. In 2001, when senior ministers L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi were examined, they had asserted that the Rao Government exceeded its Constitutional powers by sending paramilitary forces to Ayodhya without the approval of the Kalyan Singh Government. Advani and Joshi disagreed with Rao’s deposition that the Centre was barred only from deploying the forces, not from stationing them in Ayodhya.But in its written arguments submitted last month, the Centre contradicted the views of the two ministers and said that Rao could have not only sent the forces but also deployed them in the given circumstances. Consider the assertions it made to argue that Rao should have bypassed the BJP Government in Uttar Pradesh to save the mosque:• ‘‘Shri Rao’s statement that had he asked the forces to proceed without the sanction of the State Government, it would have become a penal offence, is wholly incorrect and baseless.’’• ‘‘The Central Government, if of the view that the State Government intentionally or otherwise is not deploying the forces, when it ought to do, can certainly intervene and take all constitutional steps to deploy the forces to meet any situation which imperils the safety of the structure.’’• Rao was guilty of ‘‘concealing his inaction in not taking any effective steps in dealing with the situation’’ when kar sevaks stormed the mosque.While wrapping up its arguments today, the Centre made no attempt to reconcile the conflicting positions taken on the Rao Government’s role. Instead, confounding the confusion, the Centre came up with yet another position as its counsel, Lala Ram Gupta, justified the Rao Government’s delay in imposing President’s Rule and sending the forces to the disputed complex.Qualifying it as his personal view, Gupta said the cause for Central intervention arose only around the noon of the fateful day when some 200 kar sevaks ‘‘suddenly and surprisingly’’ stormed the mosque. He said the Centre could have invoked President’s Rule when those kar sevaks carried on with the demolition despite ‘‘frantic appeals’’ by leaders like Advani and Joshi.But then, Gupta said, if the security forces had been ordered to reach the complex immediately, ‘‘it would have resulted in a massive massacre and bloodshed with repercussions not only in Ayodhya but throughout the country.’’ It was for this reason, he added, the Rao Government did not invoke Article 356 till 9 pm on December 6 and the forces did not reach the complex till the night of December 7, 1992.
