New Delhi: The report on the Babri mosque demolition that was submitted to the Indian Prime Minister on Tuesday apparently indicts the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its leaders including L K Advani, and its parent body the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for conspiring to demolish the Mughal-era mosque, Times of India reported on Wednesday.
The report has put the issue of demolition and the subsequent communal riots back in public consciousness with the Liberhan Commission, that was formed 17 years ago, submitting its findings to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday.
The report's submission prompted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to declare its commitment to building a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya, an issue that had polarised India and led to a chain of political events and hundreds of deaths in communal riots.
It took the commission, headed by retired Andhra Pradesh High Court chief justice M.S. Liberhan, 17 years and 48 extensions to complete its findings into the events of December 6, 1992 that triggered widespread violence, the ripples of which are still being felt.
The report in four volume with an extensive set of annexures will be processed by the home ministry before it is made public.
The report also holds Advani responsible for the demolition, pointing to the chariot march he took out to mobilise support to build a temple where the mosque stood and, on the fateful day, for failing to control the crowds he had helped mobilize, Times of India said on its website.
The indictment of other front-ranking Hindutva leaders is sharper, with former UP chief minister Kalyan Singh, Uma Bharti, Murli Manohar Joshi, Ashok Singhal, Vinay Katiyar and others all coming in for severe criticism for their individual culpabilities, the website said. Singh, who has since joined Mulayam Singh Yadav, has also been criticised for dodging the inquiry panel.
As for Congress, the criticism is limited to the "inaction" of former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao, who allegedly slept through the demolition, the website said.
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