Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh on Thursday told the Liberhan Commission that he was 'morally bound' by the Bharatiya Janata Party's 1989 Palampur Resolution to speak about the Ram temple movement, but was not involved in the mobilisation of people for the December 6, 1992 kar seva when the Babri masjid was demolished.
"I was committed to the Palampur Resolution and therefore, I was duty bound to try to enable the people to come out and support the BJP for the Ram temple movement in Ayodhya," he told the commission probing the demolition.
However, Singh said as a chief minister he was not involved in the mobilisation of kar sevaks for the December 6, 1992 kar seva in which he claimed many people came to Ayodhya on their own.
He also said the efforts to mobilise people were done by the Sangh Parivar organisations.
"In so far as mobilisation is concerned, a large majority of people were Ram bhakts and they came on their own. However, the general campaign was undertaken by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and sadhu sants who eventually mobilised public opinion for kar seva and the Ram temple," he said.
Singh reiterated his earlier claim that the disputed structure (Babri masjid) was a de facto as well as a de jure temple, and referred to a report prepared after excavations at the site by the Archaeological Survey of India on the orders of the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court.
The ASI report had said that a temple-like structure existed at the site.
Singh also claimed the site in question was a Ram temple as no namaz (prayer) was offered there by the Muslims since 1936, and that from 1949 onwards Hindus had been worshipping there.