New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) Negating the theory handed out by Hindu groups that the Babri Masjid demolition was mob-driven, the Liberhan Commission has said it has been "established beyond doubt" that the events of Dec 6, 1992, in Ayodhya were "neither spontaneous nor unplanned".

The commission, whose report on the demolition was tabled Tuesday in parliament, also blamed the entire temple construction movement on the Sangh Parivar -- Hindu rightwing groups.

A former high court judge, M.S. Liberhan in his report has called former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi as "pseudo-moderates" and condemned them for their role in the demolition.

"... it stands established beyond doubt that the events of the day were neither spontaneous nor unplanned nor an unforeseen overflowing of the people's emotion, nor the result of a foreign conspiracy as some overly imaginative people have tried to suggest," the 1,029-page report said.

The report said the "blame or the credit" for the entire Ram temple movement at Ayodhya must necessarily be attributed to the Sangh Parivar.

"The Parivar is a highly successful and corporatised model of a political party and as the Ayodhya campaign demonstrates, has developed a highly efficient organisational structure."

"While the structure or the methods of the Sangh Parivar for aggregating a substantial public base may neither be illegal nor strictly objectionable, the use of this gargantuan whole for the purpose of the Ayodhya campaign was clearly against the letter and spirit of Indian law and ethos."

The report said that the attempts by the "pseudo-moderate elements" within the Parivar were "predictably of little significance and were destined to fail, whether by design or otherwise".

On Vajpayee, Advani and Joshi, the report said: "These leaders cannot however be given the benefit of the doubt and exonerated of culpability.

"These leaders have violated the trust of the people and have allowed their actions to be dictated not by the voters but by a small group of individuals who have used them to implement agendas unsanctioned by the will of the common person.

"There can be no greater betrayal or crime in a democracy and the Commission has no hesitation in condemning these pseudo-moderates of their sins of omission," it added.

"As the inner core of the Parivar, the top leadership of the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad), Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal and the BJP bear primary responsibility," it added.

Vajpayee, Thackeray, Advani in Liberhan's culpability list 

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) The Liberhan Commission that probed the Babri Masjid demolition has held 68 people individually culpable for leading the country "to the brink of communal discord". The list includes former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, senior BJP leaders L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi as well as Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray.

Amongst the others in the list are then Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh, Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders Ashok Singhal and Pravin Togadia, RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan as well as Govindacharya, the late Vijayaraje Scindia, Vinay Katiyar, Uma Bharti and Sadhvi Rithambara.

Bureaucrats have been named too, including A.K. Saran, inspector general (security) and chief secretary V.K. Saxena.

Muslim leadership conspicuous by its absence: Liberhan report 

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) While pinning the blame of the Babri Masjid demolition on Hindu rightwing groups, the Liberhan Commission has also lashed out at the "fanatical Muslim leadership" for "its failure to protest effectively against the events which were building up to a crescendo".

The voluminous report, running to more than 1,000 pages, indicted "selective Muslim leaders, obsessed with building personal or individual influence or following for enhancing their political influence for self gain". They were "mere bystanders" and "put forth a dismal performance".

"While the RSS, VHP, Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal and the BJP brought the temple construction movement to the front burner and caused it to boil over, the fanatic Muslim leadership making the counterclaim were either completely complacent and had no substantial or effective leadership or were simply incompetent," it stated.

Singling out the Babri Masjid Action Committee (BMAC), later the All India Babri Masjid Action Committee (AIBMAC), it said "the Muslim leadership did little to counter the latent fears stoked up by the RSS and VHP leadership and instead provided it with the opportunity to embark on what started out as a defensive strategy".

According to the report, tabled in parliament Tuesday: "It is impossible to fight a war or to recruit warriors without the presence of an adversary... The Muslim leadership wittingly or unwittingly fulfilled this requirement for the founders of the RSS and the VHP."

The Muslim leadership, the one-man commission has concluded, was "conspicuous by its absence".

It did little to "counter the distortions of history that were being bandied about by the Sangh Parivar to whip up the country into a frenzy".

The leadership's sins of omission had made the Sangh Parivar's task easier, Justice Liberhan has said in his conclusion while holding the organisations and individuals "guilty at a tertiary level for their failure to effectively champion the cause of their constituents, and of the neutrals, and for their failure as an effective democratic opposition".

Kalyan Singh insider that caused collapse of system: Liberhan report 

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) The Liberhan Commission probing the demolition of the Babri Masjid has hit out at then Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh for embarking on a "pogrom leading up to the events of December 6th 1992" as soon he entered office.

In a scathing indictment of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government headed by Kalyan Singh, the one-man commission said in its report: "Kalyan Singh's government was the essential component needed by the Sangh Parivar for its purposes. Kalyan Singh lived up the expectations of the Parivar".

It said in the conclusion chapter that the government had "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 to evade constitutional governance and thus betrayed the confidence of the electorate".

According to Liberhan, Kalyan Singh maintained a "studied silence" even at the height of the crisis in December 1992 and "refused to allow even a single measure which might impede the Ayodhya campaign or prevent the assault on the disputed structures, the journalists or the innocent people".

The report said that he and his cabinet members "consciously allowed the writ of the extra constitutional authority, i.e. the RSS, to run the state.

"The chief minister 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 Babri Masjid had been demolished and mobs were attacking Muslims in Ayodhya, he 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..."

"The wanton violence against human life and property continued unabated and even at that late stage, the chief minister did not use the central forces which could have been swiftly deployed," the report states.

Police, officials executors of Sangh Parivar designs: Babri panel 

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) Bureaucrats and police officers in Uttar Pradesh remained "deaf, dumb and blind" in the run up to the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the Liberhan Commission has said in its report.

"The 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 and instead became a willing part of the cartel," Justice M.S. Liberhan has said in his voluminous 1,000-page report on the demolition.

"The police and the bureaucrats of the state not just turned a blind eye to the misadventures of the polity but actively connived and curried favour with the chief minister and the Sangh Parivar by systematically paralysing the state machinery. Their sins are highlighted by their being rewarded with plum postings after the demolition as well as tickets for contesting elections," the report said.

The one-man panel that has held several bureaucrats individually culpable for the demolition and for promoting communal discord said "the police and the administration were the executors of the designs of the RSS, VHP, BJP, Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena etc".

In the conclusion chapter of the report, Liberhan has said that the "decay and erosion in the values of the civil service were all too apparent in Uttar Pradesh in the years leading up to 1992".

"I have no hesitation in holding that they became a part and parcel of the political parties governing at a particular point of time..."

Firmly separate politics and religion, Liberhan says 

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) Retired judge M.S. Liberhan, who probed the razing of the 1992 Babri Masjid, has called for a firm separation of religion and politics and sought "exemplary punishment" for those using religion for political ends.

"The events of Dec 6, 1992, and the many subsequent events have already shown to the nation the danger and the disruptive potential of allowing the intermixing of religion and politics," Liberhan said in his over 1,000-page report placed in parliament Tuesday.

He went on to say that the "use of religion, caste or regionalism is a regressive and dangerous trend, capable of alienating people and dividing them into small sections".

"I must recommend that the de-merger of religion and politics must be studied and implemented at the earliest.

"It is inherently unfair, and immoral and legally dubious, to hold democracy hostage to religious and casteist blackmail," the report said in the chapter titled "Recommendations".

The report sought statutory power for the National Integration Council (NIC) so as "to implement secularism as envisaged by the constitution".

Saying criminalisation of political office and mixing of political and religious affairs had become the order of the day, he sought a separate law to provide "exemplary punishment for misuse of religion, caste etc. for political gains or illicit acquisition of political or other power".

"Regional tribunals for ensuring swift prosecution and effective implementation of the law ought to be set up in the four corners of the country," he said.

"The threat from communal violence needs to be dealt with firmly. Specialized investigating squads need to be formed under the state criminal investigation agency and communal offences or crimes committed during communal riots ought to be vigorously investigated," he said.

"Governments should not be able to withdraw charges relating to communal riots."

The report demanded that the Election Commission of India should take "swift action" against people using religion for political ends and possibly disqualify them from holding political office.

It said a government that is formed on the premise of religion or which has religious issues on its political agenda must also be barred.

The incorporation of religious agenda within political manifestos or electoral promises should be made an electoral offence and should incur summary disqualification for the individual or for the political parties, it added.

Amar Singh, Ahluwalia apologise for Rajya Sabha uproar

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) The Rajya Sabha witnessed some unsavoury moments Tuesday after tabling of the Liberhan Commission report when, provoked by the raising of religious slogans, Samajwadi Party (SP) general secretary Amar Singh attacked Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) S.S. Ahluwalia. However, both apologised to each other later.

When some BJP members raised slogans like "Jai Shri Ram" after tabling of the Liberhan report on the Babri Masjid demolition, fisticuffs broke out between Amar Singh and Ahluwalia and others.

The slogan shouting angered Amar Singh, who got up and advanced menacingly toward Ahluwalia and objected to the slogans. The Samajwadi Party leader also tried to push Ahluwalia away, but was in turn violently pushed back. This led to other members joining in the scuffle.

Amar Singh said later that he did not want a repetition of the events that followed the demolition of the Babri Masjid on Dec 6, 1992. The demolition triggered widespread communal riots in the country.

Apologising for the attack, Amar Singh said later: "I had asked Ahluwalia not to raise communal slogans. Mujhse galti ho gai (I made a mistake)," he said.

He added that the Rajya Sabha member should not have maligned the name of Lord Ram by raising such slogans.

"It is a sad episode and for the first time I was not in control of my emotions. I request them (members of the house) not to provoke me and avoid sloganeering. We are old friends," Singh told the house.

Regretting the incident, Ahluwalia said: "We have worked together and are good friends. I wish whatever happened today (Tuesday) should not have happened and it is very unfortunate."

The Liberhan Commission report has indicted many BJP leaders for the razing of the mosque.

After brawl, much bonhomie in Rajya Sabha

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) There was much bonhomie in the Rajya Sabha Tuesday afternoon following an unseemly brawl over a religious slogan that had disrupted the house earlier in the day after Home Minister P. Chidambaram tabled the report of the Liberhan Commission that probed the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid.

S.S. Ahluwalia of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Amar Singh of the Samajwadi Party (SP) who were involved in the fisticuffs, walked the last mile to admit to Chairman Hamid Ansari that what had happened was most unfortunate and assure him that it would not happen again.

The trouble had broken out soon after noon as the home minister finished reading out a statement tabling the Liberhan report. BJP MPs broke out into cries of "Jai Shri Ram" and this appeared to anger Amar Singh, who got up and advanced menacingly toward Ahluwalia, waving his right hand at him and objecting to the slogans.

Amar Singh seemingly tried to push Ahluwalia but was in turn violently pushed back. Opposition members immediately rushed to push the two apart and in the process, some of them got into their own scuffles.

Prithviraj Chavan, minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office, ran towards the agitated MPs but could not defuse the situation.

Then, abruptly, Amar Singh turned around and walked back to his seat shouting "Ya Ali".

In the midst of all this, Deputy Chairman K. Rahman Khan adjourned the house till 2 p.m. This was the third adjournment of the house since morning -- the first time over the Ranganath Misra Commission report on reservations for Dalit Muslims and Christians and then over the corruption scam involving former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda.

As tempers cooled in the house, Ahluwalia looked toward Amar Singh and remarked: "Kamaal hai, Musalmanon ko bachane ke liye, ek Sikh ko maar rahe ho (How ironic, to save Muslims you are beating up a Sikh)."

The analogy was apt as both are minority communities.

When the house reassembled at 2 p.m., both Amar Singh and Ahluwalia bent over backwards to go down memory lane.

"We go back a long way. We started out our student politics in the Congress together. Whatever happened was most unfortunate. I will ensure it does not happen again but please don't provoke me again," Amar Singh said while looking at Ahluwalia and addressing him by his first name -- Surinder.

Ahluwalia was not to be left behind.

"You are perhaps forgetting that we studied at Calcutta University together. We started our student politics together. Whatever has happened was most unfortunate," the BJP leader maintained.

"Right, now let's get on with the rest of the business," Ansari declared, signalling an end to the unfortunate episode.

Kalyan Singh dubs Liberhan report a 'political conspiracy' 

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) Kalyan Singh, who was the Uttar Pradesh chief minister when the Babri mosque was razed, said he suspected a "political conspiracy" behind the Liberhan Commission of Inquiry that has severely indicted leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the demolition.

Kalyan Singh, who later quit the BJP and recently broke ranks with the Samajwadi Party, told reporters here that he was in no doubt that a grand Ram temple would be built on the site where the 16th century Babri mosque in Ayodhya was demolished on Dec 6, 1992.

"It will be a temple, a temple, a temple," he said, repeating the word thrice to lay emphasis.

"In the Liberhan Commission � there is a stench of politics," he said, adding that the report was "politically motivated".

He denied the charge levelled by Liberhan that there was a conspiracy to bring down the mosque.

"I say there was no deep conspiracy and there was no advance planning to break the structure. Dec 6 was an explosion."

The over 1,000-page report was placed in parliament Tuesday. It has severely indicted top leaders of the BJP, to which Kalyan Singh then belonged, for the mosque razing that sparked off one of the worst outbreaks of communal violence in India.

At the same time, Kalyan Singh sought the cooperation of the Muslim community in the building of the Ram temple at the site in Ayodhya, about 700 km from here.

"There will be peace in the country (once the temple comes up)," he said. "This source of tension will end."

He said indefinitely postponing the construction of the Ram temple "will not benefit the Hindus or the Muslims or the country".

"The earlier the temple is built it will be good for the nation," he said. "The (Babri) mosque can never come up there."

Accused by the Liberhan Commission of inaction to prevent the destruction of the Babri mosque, he said he had told the police to use their canes or fire tear gas to disperse the hundreds of thousands of 'kar sevaks' who had gathered in Ayodhya on Dec 6, 1992.

"But I made it clear that there should be no firing on the kar sevaks," he said.

"If I had allowed firing, then thousands would have died and there would have been stampede and more would have died."

"The question before me was: who should I save? I prevented a massacre. The structure (mosque) went (in the process)."

"I have no regrets," he added, referring to the mosque destruction that sparked off one of the worst outbreaks of communal violence in the country.

"The Ram temple has to come up, the structure (mosque) had to go."

Alert in Uttar Pradesh after Liberhan report release 

Lucknow, Nov 24 (IANS) Police in Uttar Pradesh were put on alert Tuesday to guard against any violent fallout of the release of the Liberhan Commission report, which probed the Babri Masjid demolition, officials said.

Earlier too, in July, Chief Minister Mayawati had asked the police to maintain a strict vigil after the one-man commission of inquiry submitted its report on the demolition of the 16th century Babri Masjid to the central government.

"No laxity of any kind would be tolerated in dealing with any law and order situation that might arise as a consequence of publication of the Liberhan Commission report," said an official spokesman here.

It was feared that publication of the report could spark trouble in communally sensitive pockets across the country.

Related News: Liberhan says report answers all questions

IANS