Leaked Liberhan report indicts Advani, BJP, RSS, Kalyan Singh and names Vajpayee

Leaked portions of Liberhan Report say demolition was ‘meticulously planned,’ indict Advani and names ex-PM AB Vajpayee.

Photo: Kar sevaks demolishing Babri Masjid

Parts of the report of the Liberhan Commission, which inquired into the demolition of the Babri masjid on December 6, 1992, have been leaked before it was to be placed in Parliament. The Indian Express newspaper and NDTV television channel said they have the report with them. Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has said that the report has not been leaked by his ministry.

The Liberhan Commission Report was submitted to the Union Government in June 2009, but the contents had not yet been made public.

The leaked inquiry report has blamed senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the main Opposition, including former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the present Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha L K Advani and former BJP president Murli Manohar Joshi, for their “role” in the demolition of the masjid.

In the report, Justice Manmohan Singh Liberhan has described Vajpayee and Advani as “pseudo-moderates,” according to the newspaper which published the leaked report.

The Liberhan Commission, citied the body of evidence it gathered during its tenure that spread over 17 years, including statements of witnesses and official records.

According to the leaked report, one of the key conclusions of the one-man commission is said that the “entire build-up to the demolition of the structure was meticulously planned” and that there is “nothing to show that these top leaders of the BJP were either unaware of what was going on or were innocent of any wrongdoing.”

The Liberhan Commission’s task was to investigate the “sequence of events leading, and all facts and circumstances relating to the occurrences at Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri masjid complex on December 6, 1992.”

L K Advani reacted to the publication of parts of the report by saying that he was “shocked” by the “selective leaking of the report” while Parliament is in session.

Advani, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, in his speech in the Lok Sabha, demanded to know “who leaked the report and why.”

He said the editor of the newspaper which published the report had “confirmed to one of his colleagues in the BJP” that the report is “authentic.”

Advani also quoted from the leaked report, the origin of which has been attributed to “sources in the Home Ministry.”

In his speech in the Lok Sabha, Advani expressed his “disdain” over the inclusion of the name of Vajpayee in the report, saying that, “I would have taken up the challenge if I was indicted, but the indictment of Vajpayee, considering his stature in the country and his current ill health, has shocked me.”

Advani criticized the Union Government on the ground that though the Liberhan Commission Report was submitted to the government on June 30, 2009, the government has not yet tabled it in Parliament, and now the report has been leaked even while Parliament is in session.

On the issue of the BJP’s role and his own role in the so-called Ayodhya movement, Advani said he was “proud” of his association with the movement and stressed that he wanted to see a temple built in Ayodhya. All the same, Advani clarified that he was “distressed” by the demolition of the masjid.

In the Lok Sabha, other Opposition leaders from the Left parties and the Samajwadi Party demanded that full report of the Liberhan Commission, along with the Action Taken Report (ATR) be tabled in Parliament “today itself” (that is, November 23, 2009).

On its part, the Central Government refused to be drawn into the debate over the leaking of the report and just said it was “unfortunate” that parts of the report came to be published in newspapers.