Babri report was not written by Liberhan: BJP

Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj tore apart the Justice Liberhan Commission report, on the Babri Masjid demolition, on Tuesday and asked the government to reject it.

She said the Bhartiya Janata Party rejects the report, that indicts top BJP leaders and sangh parivar, 'lock, stock and barrel.'

She gave a jolt to the government when she alleged that this report is not authored by Justice Liberhan, but is written by someone else.

She tried to prove her argument through Liberhan's interviews given to two newspapers, claiming that the report was not even read by Justice Liberhan himself.

In the interview given to the Times of India after tabling of the report in Parliament, the judge said that he has not at all indicted former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He asked the interviewer to read the report carefully with proper reference, Swaraj noted.

And, after four days, while talking to the Hindu newspaper, he changed his stand and gave explanation for his indictment, she added.

Looking straight towards Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, Sushma asked what kind of 'favour' he is going to shower on Justice Liberhan.

"I want to ask Chidambram, which demand of the judge ( Liberhan) you have fulfilled? I have heard that there is a long list of demands, that includes his nomination as judge of the Supreme Court as a state governor," she charged.

She said if the home minister doesn't reveal it today, even then she would know it after a few months.

She said, "I know how this report was taken out of the freezer when the new government came into power."

She said that the Liberhan Commission has not found any evidence of conspiracy behind the demolition of the disputed structure in Ayodhya. She said the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Intelligence Bureau, Muslim organisations or the then central government could not provide any evidence of a conspiracy to demolish the structure.

In a bold speech, Swaraj 'proved' that how Justice Liberhan has done sloppy job of inquiring into the demolition. She also added emotion to her speech by claiming that the Ram Janmabhoomi movement was a mass movement, and that cannot be dismissed by Justice Liberhan's report. Justice Liberhan has claimed that there was no mass movement for the Ram temple.

She said, "The scene of mass movement cannot be imagined from air-conditioned rooms. If you want to see what is a mass movement, then you will have to stand under the scorching sun on dust-filled roads. I have been witness of the Ayodhya movement. I was in-charge of the Haryana part of it."

She said she still remembers how women folk used to come with a thali of aarti, and they used to consider even the dust of Advani's rath as sacred. She said Ayodhya was such a movement that when the former Mulayam Singh government stopped the vehicle-traffic going to Ayodhya, kar sevaks started walking on foot. On the way, people gave them shelter, food and even washed their feet in warm water.

"Yes, the Babri masjid was demolished by kar sevaks. But, was it a conspiracy? No. It was not a conspiracy," Swaraj said and added, "Ram is soul of India."

She spoke for almost 40 minutes. Senior BJP leader L K Advani, her political mentor, was looking emotionally charged while Chidambaram was smirking, most of the times.

Swaraj, known for her oratorical skills, came prepared and said that this report is 'full of crudity' and its sowing the 'seeds of division' amongst Hindus and Muslims.

She said, "Who asked Liberhan to write on secularism?"

She severely criticised the fact that the report contains 26 pages on issue of secularism, while a 'thesis' is written on the relations between the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha and the BJP. She also criticised the fact that the report has been harsh on Muslim organisations.

She said, "This report is not a legal document written by a judge, but it's a political report written by an opportunist."

She said that it's a shame that after 6,036 days, this report was submitted. She reminded the house that the former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru ruled for 6,000 days, but Liberhan took even longer time to complete his report.