Narasimha Rao still makes Cong uncomfortable

NEW DELHI: Congress’ discomfort with defending P V Narasimha Rao, who was prime minister when Babri Masjid was demolished, came out in the open on Thursday, with the party acknowledging that there was considerable public anger over the Centre’s failure to protect the mosque.

Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmad said Congress president Sitaram Kesri’s decision to deny Rao a nomination in the 1998 elections was aimed at “helping to bring public anger in control and remove him from the scene.” This is the closest that the party has come to admitting a serious lapse on the Congress prime minister’s part in the wake of the Liberhan Commission’s findings.

The party had been maintaining since Monday, when the contents of the report found their way to media, that Rao was unable to act to stop the demolition of the mosque as the governor of UP had refused to give a report on the situation there. It has been citing constitutional implications as the reason for Rao’s inaction on December 6, 1992, when Sangh Parivar activists brought down the mosque.

Though Congress leaders have been alleging off-the-record that Rao did not act fast enough or even that he did not want to act at all, this is the first time that the party has talked of a perception among people about “delayed action” on the then PM’s part. “What Rao did as prime minister, it is for the people to judge,” Mr Ahmad said on Wednesday. He, however, added that the Liberhan Commission had not “directly or indirectly” implicated Rao.

Asked about Kesri’s public statement about denying Rao a ticket in the 1998 elections, Mr Ahmad said: “There was a perception, anger against the state government. Sitaram Kesri apologised (for the failure to protect Babri Masjid) just as other Congress leaders did.