BJP demands PM's statement on Cong role during Babri demolition

KOLKATA: BJP national spokesperson Prakash Javdekar on Wednesday demanded a statement from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the role played by the Congress during the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992.

"Former Prime Minister PV Narsimha Rao is no more. But Manmohan Singh was the second man in the then Congress government in Delhi and we demand a statement from him in the floor of the Parliament on the role played by the Congress government in 1992," Javdekar told a BJP gathering here on Wednesday.

Javdekar also said that the BJP will bring a privilege motion in the Lok Sabha against the government for leakage of the Liberhan Commission report before it was tabled in Parliament.

He also described the Liberhan Commission findings as rubbish as it was not based on evidence. "We have rejected the report and it should be thrown into dustbin," the BJP spokesperson told his party gathering amid loud cheers from the audience.

Javdekar also deplored the Commission for indicting top BJP leaders like former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and LK Advani. "Vajpayee was neither given any notice by the Commission, nor was summoned by it to submit his deliberations. We feel that the Commission has no right to indict the senior most BJP leaders including Vajpayee," he added.

The BJP leader also rejected the Commission’s observation that demolition of the Babri Majid was pre-planned.

"More than 10 lakh people had gathered at Ayodhaya and I was also present there when the incident took place. It was not a pre-planned move, but was a spontaneous mass movement," Javdekar, who addressed the rally in favour of a Bangla Bandh called by the BJP, said. He also described the Commission’s findings as partial.

"At a time the Commission has given a clean chit to former Prime Minister PV Narsimha Rao, it indicted Vajpayee without giving him any opportunity to explain his position before the Commission," the BJP spokesperson mentioned.