Babri masjid demolition: What Liberhan Commission said about LK Advani, Vajpayee & others acquitted by court

Set up to investigate the sequence, background, conspiracy and role of the BJP, RSS, VHP leaders in the Babri masjid demolition case, the Liberhan Commission had concluded that BJP veterans LK Advani, MM Joshi, former union minister Uma Bharti and former UP CM Kalyan Sibgh were culpable for the demolition.

Holding 68 people responsible for hatching a conspiracy and inciting people which ultimately led to demolition of the mosque, the enquiry commission led by retired High Court Judge M. S. Liberhan in its report said that RSS was the main mobilizer on the ground while the then CM Kalyan Singh was responsible for the execution of the demolition.

Terming former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani as “pseudo-moderates”, the commission, which submitted its report in 2009, concluded, “They (BJP leaders) have violated the trust of the people.... There can be no greater betrayal or crime in a democracy and this Commission has no hesitation in condemning these pseudo-moderates for their sins of omission”.

Set up by the Narasimha Rao government, the one man Commission which was mandated to submit its report within three months, was given 48 extensions.

Here are the main findings of the reports which stand in contrast to the judgment pronounced by the special CBI court:

• Kalyan Singh, who was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh at the time of the mosque's demolition, stayed silent.
• The chief minister and his cabinet were the proverbial insiders who caused the collapse of the entire system.
• Kalyan Singh’s government allowed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to directly run his government and "systematically and in a pre-planned manner removed inconvenient bureaucrats from positions of power, dismantled and diluted the security apparatus and infrastructure, lied consistently to the High Court and the Supreme Court of India and to the people of India”.
• The demolition was planned and “No evidence, lead or information was provided to the Commission with respect to the conspiracy or pre-planning”.
• Kalyan Singh did not direct the police "to use force or resort to firing to chase away the miscreants or to save the lives of those wretched innocents..."
• Uma Bharti, Govindacharya, Kalyan Singh and Shanker Singh Vaghela, all of whom were members of the BJP could have prevented the assault on the mosque.
• Senior BJP leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi are “pseudo-moderates”.
• ·Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, RSS and VHP were intellectually and ideologically responsible for the mosque's destruction.
• The demolition of Babri masjid in Ayodhya has been a long time objective of the RSS. The RSS used its large volunteer base to accomplish this task while it maintained that the demolition was spontaneous.
• The Sangh Parivar is a "highly successful and corporatised model of a political party" and as the Ayodhya campaign demonstrated, has developed a highly efficient organisational structure.
• The BJP “was and remains an appendage of the RSS…amd the blame or the credit for the entire temple construction movement at Ayodhya must necessarily be attributed to the Sangh Parivar”.
• Quoting an intelligence report, the Commission said that the demolition of Babri Mosque at Ayodhya was planned 10 months in advance by Hindu extremist leaders of Rashtriya Sevak Sangh (RSS), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).