Centre feels the heat on Babri report, carbon intensity cuts.
All political parties interpreted the Liberhan Commission report according to their needs and played to their vote banks during Monday’s debate in Parliament. Though they were divided on ideological lines, the Opposition succeeded in putting the Congress on the mat for former prime minister PV Narasimha Rao’s role during the Babri demolition.
Expectedly, the mention of Vajpayee in the report became the central theme of the debate. Outgoing BJP chief Rajnath Singh also embarked on the Hindutva agenda that the party had kept on a backburner. “Atalji, Advaniji and Joshiji were called pseudo moderates. This [the report] is a political document for character assassination.
Commissions cannot make political comments. It is deplorable.” The BJP president said that even Nehru had praised Vajpayee and Rao had described him as his political guru.
The debate turned out to be UP-centric, with all parties barring the Left, fielding leaders from the state to argue their case. Rajnath Singh built his hour-long speech on the history of Babri Masjid and Ramjanmabhoomi, while extensively referring to Hindu mythology.
Home minister P Chidambaram had to intervene when Rajnath referred to historic documents, written by 17th and 18th century Muslim clerics, and books by Western historians to establish that Babri Masjid was built in 1528 by demolishing Ram temple in Ayodhya. “We are not here to discuss the title suit. That is subjudice,” said Chidambaram.
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, desperate to win back his Muslim supporters, made the Congress his main target. “It is known that Vajpayee staged a dharna at the BJP office and then home minister and Congress leader SB Chavan had visited him and given certain assurance. We would like to know what assurance the minister gave which made Vajpayee end the dharna.” Yadav alleged that the BJP and the Congress were “hand in glove” at the time of the demolition of the structure. “The Congress is no less responsible. An IAS officer who was in the office of the prime minister was made governor (of UP),” Mulayam said. “Countering Jagdambika Pal’s assertion that the Congress was in the dark, he said, “If the government did not know, why was Atalji arrested?”
“Vajpayee is also guilty. He was a culprit. They must have known about it. If they had been arrested then the mosque could have been saved,” Mulayam said.
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