NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 6: The clean chit given today by Prime Minister A B Vajpayee to the three chargesheeted ministers flies in the face of not just the CBI's investigation but also the ``prima facie'' findings of the special court dealing with the Ayodhya demolition case.While Vajpayee says L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharati were in Ayodhya on the fateful day only to ``protect'' what he calls the ``disputed structure,'' the CBI states in its chargesheet - filed on October 1993 - that they were very much party to the ``criminal conspiracy'' to demolish it.This chargesheet was upheld by the special court judge, J P Srivastava, who found prima facie basis in September 1997 to charge all the 49 accused, including the three who are now ministers.According to the CBI chargesheet, there were four specific allegations against Advani. Firstly, the whole conspiracy to demolish the structure began with Advani's Rath Yatra from Somnath to Ayodhya in 1990. Secondly, Advani held a secret meeting with Joshi and others on the eve of the demolition at Bajrang Dal leader Vinay Katiyar's house in Ayodhya to finalise the operation. Thirdly, while the demolition was on, Advani advised Kalyan Singh on the phone to hold his resignation till the demolition of all the three domes was completed. Fourthly, Advani exhorted the kar sevaks during the five-hour demolition to block the highway so that the Central forces did not reach the spot.The allegations made in the chargesheet against Joshi and Bharati were mainly about their having raised ``provocative'' and ``inflammatory'' slogans egging the kar sevaks to demolish the structure.The slogans attributed by the chargesheet to Bharati range from Ek Dhakka Aur Do, Babri Masjid Tod Do and Masjid Girao Mandir Banao, Babar Ki Aulad Ko Pakistan Bhagao to Babar Bole Jai Shri Ram, Mecca Bole Jai Shri Ram and Ram Naam Satya Hai, Babri Masjid Dhwasth Hai..These slogans recorded in the chargesheet undermine Vajpayee's statement today that the three ministers were actually ``trying to pacify the crowd'' collected in Ayodhya eight years ago.In September 1997, Srivastava not only approved of the CBI chargesheet but he also summoned the entire lot of the accused to appear the following month so that the charges could be formally framed against each of them.It was against this order that 33 of the accused persons filed a revision petition before the Allahabad High Court. Srivastava has since been transferred and the special court has been waiting for the High Court to pronounce its verdict on the revision petition. The high court concluded the hearings only last month and the judgment is now awaited.Though its conclusions are tentative, Srivastava's order is so far the only judicial report on the Ayodhya demolition.
