BJP dubs Liberhan report as devoid of any credibility

Participating in the discussion on the report,he said it was a “fraud on fact finding process” and asked why it took 17 years to prepare the report.

He took a dig at Justice Liberhan saying he perpetuated his “self-employment” for 17 long years after retirement and added that the “leakage” of the report is as dubious as its content.

Jaitley wanted to know who was the de facto author of the report and pointed out that the Commission itself names Harpreet Singh Giani who analysed the evidence and gave the ideas for writing the report.

“The Commission is a truth investigator,not a political pundit …The Judge (Justice Liberhan) ignored entire evidence and came to a finding,” pointing to a series of inconsistencies and factual errors in the report.

Jaitley said Liberhan was a junior judge of the Punjab High Court and questioned the process of selection of judges which invited noisy protest from the Treasury benches.

“A report cannot become a national embarrassment,” he said,adding that a “puny judge” who takes 17 years to prepare the report for self-employment with an eye on “future employment” cannot be taken seriously.

“He errs on basic facts…Gets the date of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination wrong…He says Veer Savarkar was the founder of the RSS…” Jaitley said,pointing to the factual errors in the report.

The Leader of Opposition rubbished the report for putting M A Jinnah’s words in the mouth of RSS and Jan Sangh ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay.

“…And you want the country to take the report seriously?” he asked,adding that the Commission had a huge bias against social justice and Mandal Commission.

Jaitley also picked holes in various recommendations of the report,saying the whole report was “full of howlers and is a tragedy of errors”.

Referring to the names of former interim Prime Minister Gulzari Lal Nanda of the Congress and Devraha Baba,who died two years before the demolition,in the report,he asked how could the commission indict L K Advani in the report when it is full of errors.

Jaitley said the Commission did not serve notice to Atal Bihari Vajpayee though it was mandatory under the Commissions of Inquiry Act even if the findings affect the reputation of a person.

“The only person this Commission was kind to was the appointing authority – the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao,” he said,adding that it was the most “unprecedented Commission”,he had come across.

Referring to a testimony by a journalist before the Commission,he said he was only asked to answer in yes or no and referred to an article in a magazine written by the same journalist on the way the Commission functioned.

Jaitley mocked at recommendations of the Commission like retired persons should not get employment. “A gentleman who got 48 extensions says that retired persons should not get employment,” he said.

Describing the report as a “national joke”,Jaitley wondered from where the then law minister managed to find “such a gentleman (like Liberhan)”.

The Leader of Opposition said his party was willing to negotiate the issue as it stands for “justice for all”.

He said that a civil society is one which stands for security of the minority community,but inclusivity (about which Congress talks) does not mean that government should oppose the majority community.

“We speak against reverse discrimination (against majority community) and reject this report,” Jaitley said amid applause from the Opposition benches.