6 December is the martyrdom day of the Babri Masjid -a centuries old institution demolished by a mob in the name of Ram. As the Supreme Court takes up the matter for final adjudication, Justice Liberhan, questions the Supreme Court decision to hear the case without disposing off the matter relating to the guilt of those responsible for the demolition.  As the hate crescendo drowns the findings of the Justice Liberhan Commission, in the interest of justice and truth, WSN reproduces excerpts from the Justice Liberhan report. We also provide link to offbeat filmmaker Anand Patwardhan’s documentary, Ram ke Nam.

What happened on Dec 6, 1992, was not the culmination of a movement, but rather the result of a mobilization, fanned, financed and facilitated by the Sangh Parivar, with Kalyan Singh reducing the UP administration to unquestioning compliance, concludes the Liberhan Commission of Inquiry. It makes little distinction between the Parivar’s ‘pseudo-moderates’ and ‘radicals’, saying the difference lay in the modes, not in the ends they may have been trying to achieve. Here are some excerpts from the Liberhan Commission report:

Except for self-serving hyperbole, the Ayodhya campaign did not enjoy the willing and voluntary support of the common person, even of the average Hindu…the demand for a temple never really became a public movement… The rallies and yatras were aimed at the emotionally charged common man and to make him a part of the demand…

The mobilisation required logistical support for accommodating the incoming masses in tents and other shelters, providing foods and other necessities for their boarding and lodging. Facilities had to be provided not only for the karsevaks, but also for their leaders… It was sustained and further hyped up by the daily public meetings held at the Ram Katha Kunj since 1.12.1992.

As is evident from the evidence, in order to support the prerequisites for such a movement, the finances required were channeled from the coffers of the various Sangh Parivar organizations through various banks to accounts held in the names of various organizations and individuals.

Apart from the inflow of the cash from unidentifiable sources, cash was also transferred and transacted through banks… The RSS, VHP, BJP and also other members of the Sangh Parivar raised funds for conducting the movement from time to time. The recipient organizations were mostly the Ram Janam Bhoomi Nyas, Bharat Kalyan Pratishtan, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Ram Janambhoomi Nyas Paduka Pujan Nidhi, Shri Ram Janambhoomi Nyas Shri Ram Shila Pujan, Jan Hiteshi and the accounts were operated by Onkar Bhave, Mahant Paramhans Ramchander Das, Nritya Gopal Das, Gurjan Singh and Narad Saran, Acharya Giriraj Kishore, Vishnu Hari Dalmia, Nana Bhagwat, Jaswant Rai Gupta, B P Toshniwal, Sitaram Agarwal, Ashok Singhal, Rameshwar Dyal, Prem Nath, Champat Rai, Surya Krishan, Yashwant Bhatt, Avdesh Kumar Das Shastri etc.  …the amounts transacted exceeded many tens of crores of rupees which were utilised for effecting the events of December 6th, 1992.

The utilization of such huge monies is a categorical pointer to the planning and preplanning carried out… In conformity with the army-like discipline of organizations like the RSS, the manner in which the arrangements and mobilization was carried out does not corroborate the theory that (it)… was for symbolic karseva alone…

The mode of assault, the small number of karsevaks who carried out the demolition and the constraints of the space to accommodate the number of people, veiling of the identity of the karsevaks entering the domes, the removal of the idols and the cash box from under the dome and the subsequent reinstallation in the makeshift temple, construction of the makeshift temple, availability of instruments and material for demolition and for the swift construction of the makeshift temple lead to the conclusion that the demolition was carried out with painstaking preparation and preplanning. The involvement of quite a number of karsevaks… ordinarily could not have been kept secret from people like the Chief Minister… or from K S Sudarshan who was heading the RSS while their swayamsevaks were detailed on the spot for each and every act required to be carried out; or local leaders like Vinay Katiyar or Ashok Singhal or the persons present at the spot prior to December 6th, 1992.

CM showed the way

There are not doubts about the culpability of Kalyan, his ministers, chosen as cohorts

The very fact that the Chief Minister of the state of Uttar Pradesh, its ministers and its mandarins supported the destruction with tacit, open, active and material support at every step, but did not make it part of the officially stated agenda lends credence to the fact that they were aware of the gross illegality…they were guilty of…

The RSS, Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal, BJP etc… are collectively an immense and awesome entity with a shrewd brain, a wide encompassing sweep and the crushing strength of a mob… the destruction of the disputed structure was only one victorious battle in their ongoing campaign against secularism and the multicultural society, clothed in the garb of religion, regions, reservations, castes etc…

There is no manner of doubt admissible in the culpability and responsibility of the Chief Minister, his ministers and his cohorts who were handpicked to occupy selected posts. Paramhans Ramchander Das, Ashok Singhal, Vinay Katiyar, Vishnu Hari Dalmia, Vamdev, K S Sudarshan, H V Sheshadri, Lalji Tandon, Kalraj Mishra, Govindacharya and others… formed this complete cartel led by Kalyan Singh and supported by the icons of the movement like L K Advani, M M Joshi, A B Vajpayee.

Chief Minister Kalyan Singh stood on guard against the possibility of any pre-emptive or preventive action by the Central Government or the Supreme Court of India or the other courts or any other institution…

There were few who resisted the betrayal of democracy; those who did were swiftly removed, sidelined and rendered toothless… The police and the administration were openly supporting the RSS…

“It can’t be assumed even for a moment that Vajpayee, Advani or Joshi did not know the designs of Sangh Parivar -the funding, the planning, tens of crorers went out from coffers of Parivar to outfits, individuals.”

The Central Government was crippled by the failure of the intelligence agencies… It stayed its hand deferring to the Hon’ble Supreme Court which had taken up the matter… The Supreme Court was in turn misled by the pretentious undertakings given to it by the UP government and the leadership of the movement and the all-is-well reports by its rapporteur Tej Shanker…

The RSS, Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal, BJP etc… are collectively an immense and awesome entity with a shrewd brain, a wide encompassing sweep and the crushing strength of a mob… the destruction of the disputed structure was only one victorious battle in their ongoing campaign against secularism and the multicultural society, clothed in the garb of religion, regions, reservations, castes etc…

A Government that wasn’t

RSS writ ran in state, government embarked on pogrom that led up to December 6, 2017

The administrative officers, the police and selective sections of the bureaucracy were a part and parcel of the cartel of the BJP CM and willingly helped it achieve its election manifesto… They could have at least attempted to stem the tide of communalism and the rape of democracy. But they chose to remain deaf, dumb and blind throughout…

Immediately after entering into office, the government of UP… embarked on the pogrom leading up to the events of December 6th, 1992.  The Kalyan Singh government systematically and in a pre-planned manner removed inconvenient bureaucrats… dismantled and diluted the security apparatus, lied consistently to the High Court and the Supreme Court of India and to the people of India…

The CM of UP and his cabinet members consciously allowed the writ of… the RSS to run in the state. Rather it was the swayamsevaks of the RSS who carried out the pogroms or execution at the spot. The CM and his cabinet were the proverbial insiders who caused the collapse of the entire system. Even when it was brought to his notice that the disputed structure had been demolished and mobs were attacking the Muslim populace of Ayodhya, he did not direct the police to use force or resort to firing… did not use the central forces…

Without Kalyan Singh and his cabinet colleagues or the icons of the BJP, the Ayodhya campaign could not have succeeded. A similar situation in the past had been handled by an earlier CM denying the miscreants the opportunity to wreak havoc…

All-clear on road to demolition

CCTVs missing as pliant officers made access easier, central forces kept out

Chief Minister Kalyan Singh on assuming office embarked on a focused mission to replace the administrative and police officers who were inclined to resist a change in the status quo or who demonstrated the slightest hesitation in conniving, supporting or collaborating…  These postings and transfers had the singular intent, purpose and effect of smoothening the ride for the demolition…

The second step after ensuring the presence of a benign police and administrative set-up was to ensure that the hands that wielded the batons and carried the guns were friendly to the karsevaks… This gratuitous dismantling was secured by posting raw untested personnel or trainees and sympathetic provincial armed constabulary in the twin towns… They had been turned into uniformed karsevaks rather than protectors…

The blame or the credit for the entire movement at Ayodhya must necessarily be attributed to the Sangh Parivar… As the inner core of the Parivar, the top leadership of the RSS, VHP, Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal and the BJP bear primary responsibility.

The well-documented orders prohibiting the use of firearms or force against the karsevaks and the organisers were also allowed to be interpreted as a forbearance of use even of less deadly methods such as tear gas or the plain old lathis. Instead of using the riot shields to oppose the violent karsevaks, they were actually handed over willingly to them by the police personnel and used or misused by them.

When push came to shove, the senior police officers were at hand to ensure that their men toed the line and that the demolition of the disputed structure was allowed to go ahead with military precision as orchestrated by the leaders present at the spot and carried out by their henchmen whom they refused to identify even before me.

…The levelling of the surrounding topography made it easy for the people to congregate and rush (to) the disputed structure. The earth that had been excavated had been dumped around the perimeter wall and the Ram Dewar and acted as convenient ramps for scaling these meagre barriers. The electronic measures including closed circuit televisions, metal detectors etc were intentionally rendered inoperative…

…the state government did not arrange even for a single video camera to record the events for posterity… The closed-circuit television cameras, which the state had promised the central government would be monitoring every inch of the disputed structure, were either inoperative or their footage had been hidden away from the public and this commission…

The only non-manageable variable, from the Sangh Parivar’s point of view, was the possible deployment of central forces in the state… This threat was also neutralised by senior and well-respected individuals stating blatant lies on oath before the Supreme Court, apart from protesting against even the stationing of central paramilitary forces….

The role of the Supreme Court’s observer in not alerting the Court to the clearly unfolding duplicity is also something that raises concerns… Even at the moment that the domes were being pulled down, he was not at the spot, having been delayed by his family members whom he had brought along to witness the spectacle.

United Colours of Culpability

They portrayed a benign face, made false promises to courts, the country

For the purpose of quantifying the culpability, the various persons and organisations named in this report have been divided into three groups.

The first group represents those who bear the primary and the greatest responsibility… These individuals and organisations were a part of the decision making or were instrumental in the assault…

The second group consists of those who bear physical, ideological and intellectual responsibility. These persons and organisations were not decision makers and could not change the course charted by those bearing primary responsibility. Nevertheless, without their sins of commission or omission, the situation would not have deteriorated as much as it did. These include those who portrayed the benign face of the Ayodhya campaign and gave false reassurances to the courts, the people and the nation as a whole.

Those who have been put in the second category are referred to as ‘pseudo-moderates’ in contrast to the radicals forming part of the first group. This is not to suggest that their objections do or do not differ from the radicals. The term is used indicative of the modes that these people adopted, rather than the ends they may have been trying to achieve.

It may be probable that the pseudo-moderate elements while being committed to the erection of a Ram temple, were interested for political expediency in exploring the possibility of its coexistence with the disputed structure, at least for the time being. The other distinction between the radicals and the pseudo-moderates is also that the latter had the construction of the temple on their primary agenda while the former were more fanatical about the demolition of what they called a national shame.

There are also those who bear tertiary responsibility for the situation. These people may or may not have been associated with the Sangh Parivar or had any influence over the situation at all. However, it was their sworn and statutory duty to prevent exactly the kind of events which took place…

The Parivar, The Pseudos

The Public faces, a Sangh Façade, can’t claim benefit of the doubt

The blame or the credit for the entire movement at Ayodhya must necessarily be attributed to the Sangh Parivar…

As the inner core of the Parivar, the top leadership of the RSS, VHP, Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal and the BJP bear primary responsibility.

The conundrum which faced the commission… was to reconcile the stance of the public face of the Sangh Parivar with the actions which defied law, morality and political ethics.

On one hand, leaders like A B Vajpayee, Murli Manohar Joshi and L K Advani, who are the undeniable public face and leaders of the BJP and thus, of the Parivar, constantly protested their innocence and denounced the events of December 1992….

“When push came to shove, the senior police officers were at hand to ensure that their men toed the line and that the demolition of the disputed structure was allowed to go ahead with military precision as orchestrated by the leaders present at the spot and carried out by their henchmen whom they refused to identify even before me.”

On the other hand, it stands established beyond doubt that the events of the day were neither spontaneous nor unplanned nor an unforeseen overflowing of the people’s emotions…

The commission…is unable to hold even these pseudo-moderates’ innocent of any wrongdoings.

It cannot be assumed even for a moment that L K Advani, A B Vajpayee or M M Joshi did not know the designs of the Sangh Parivar… they were party to the decisions which had been taken.

The BJP was and remains an appendage of the RSS which had the purpose only of providing an acceptable veneer to the less popular decisions and a facade for the brash members of the Sangh Parivar.

The much repeated and much denied remarks attributed to Govindacharya who called Vajpayee a mukhota or a mask may be more appropriately applied to the BJP’s top leadership at the time collectively…

These leaders cannot however be given the benefit of the doubt and exonerated of culpability. The defence of ‘superior orders’ has historically never been available, and least of all to those whom the people have trusted and voted into power.

The Other Side

Muslim Leadership failed the community

The Muslim leadership provided the rabid Hindu ideologues sufficient cause to instill fear into the common citizen of India… The elite political Muslim leadership… was neither responsible to, nor caring for the welfare of those they purported to champion…

The presence of the enemy is the prerequisite for unrest and discord. The Muslim leadership, wittingly or unwittingly, fulfilled this requirement for the founders of the RSS and the VHP.

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Possibly for fear of being labelled anti-Indian or anti-national, the Muslim leadership did precious little to counter the distortions of history that were being bandied about by the Sangh Parivar… The Muslim leadership… also failed to highlight the…extra legal methods adopted… to install the idols in the disputed structure or to open the locks on the gates…  The commission holds these organisations and individuals guilty at a tertiary level…