Mulayam Singh Yadav claims then President Shankar Dayal Sharma knew of Babri mosque demolition

NEW DELHI: Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav today claimed the then President Shankar Dayal Sharma knew about the plan for demolition of Babri mosque on December 6, 1992 and conveyed this to him when he along with his partymen had met him to seek his intervention in stopping the impending act.

"On December 4, 1992, there was a meeting held to discuss the situation after the decision to demolish the masjid in Ayodhya was taken by BJP and its supporters. It was decided to see the President and seek his intervention. Shankar Dayal Sharma was the President then.

"We gave him a letter. We told him the masjid would be brought down. Shankar Dayal Sharma read the letter and discussed with us. He looked around here and there and then he told us that hope you will not tell anyone. Then he said the masjid will certainly be brought down. Shankar Dayal Sharma said this," Yadav said at a function here.

He said he tried a lot to talk to the government at the time but no one listened and on December 6, 1992, the masjid was razed.

The SP leader claimed he was also later dissuaded from writing a book on this issue after he had even written a few pages. "I was dissuaded...I was told a lot of leaders would be uncovered...," he said.