Liberhan report: Cong takes first step to win back UP

NEW DELHI: With the Liberhan report set to be tabled in Parliament, reopening the debate on culpability for Babri demolition, Congress is ready to play out its Mission UP with a weapon to win over minorities.

The view in Congress circles is that the consequences of the volatile issue have played out in 17 years since Babri demolition in Ayodhya, limiting the scope for any radical change in polity now, except a slanging match across the ‘secular vs communal’ divide.

It is only UP where a debate on Babri can play a robust role. Though UP has become a predominantly ‘secular’ turf with the marginalisation of BJP, Congress has kicked off a strategy to attack SP’s secular credentials over its joining hands with Kalyan Singh who was CM during the demolition. SP’s Firozabad bypoll upset and its conclusion that ties with Kalyan Singh had to be snapped have emboldened Congress to hammer on its principal rival. The fortnight since the bypoll shock, which also saw Mulayam Singh beaten in his fief of Etawah and Bharthana assembly seats, has witnessed an aggressive Muslim politics in SP to neutralise the Congress attempts.

Reflecting its new offensive, SP leader Amar Singh said, “We have got rid of Kalyan though he was never part of SP. But will Congress get rid of Narayan Rane, Sanjay Nirupam and Chhagan Bhujbal who were part of Shiv Sena during riots for which Congress set up Srikrishna Commission probe?”

For Congress, starting from the scratch, the appeal to minorities is a strong bid to revive a core votebase which sustained the party for a long time in the country’s largest political turf. If there has to be a bloc-wise shift in favour of the party, Muslims are seen as the first target, a key group across the state. The second would be upper castes.

The fact that Narasimha Rao was PM at that time does leave a poser on how Congress would tackle the post-Liberhan debate. The demolition taint on Congress has been strong, triggering a nationwide minority exodus from its ranks and enfeebling it in a big way. Any indictment of Rao’s regime could revive the debate, a fact SP would relish to counter the Congress propaganda in UP. At the same time, its acquittal may stretch credulity too far given the popular perception.

An AICC leader candidly said, “Perceptionally, we know the view about the central government then and what the report says may not matter much. But it has all played out in 17 years, now it would only be for the truth as found by the panel.”