Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi will not participate in the discussion on the Liberhan Commission findings in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday following a decision by the party against fielding those indicted in the report. "We have taken a conscious decision that leaders whose names appear in the accused list will not speak during the discussions," a senior party leader said on Monday.
The Liberhan's leaked report has turned all the attention away from the sugarcane issue that was kicking up a storm in Parliament.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday dubbed the Liberhan Commission report, probing the Babri Masjid demolition, as devoid of any credibility and said the 'leakage' of the report was as dubious as its content.
Under fire for the alleged leakage of the Liberhan Commission report, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram called the home secretary, a joint secretary and a few other officials to his residence to establish that he wasn't responsible.Chidambaram called his top officers on Monday to break the seals and open four boxes of documents which were annexures to the main report. These were all kept in a secured corner of his official residence.
The panel was appointed within a fortnight of the demolition of the structure at the disputed site on December 6, 1992 to inquire into the circumstances that led to the incident.
The government is still looking around for copies of evidence related to the Ayodhya case, the panel said.
'It (Centre's submission) proves the political intention of the UPA government, which wants to keep the issue alive by resorting to falsehood,' says BJP.
This is the last opportunity for the Centre to express its overall view on the demolition.
The Congress on Monday gave a clean chit to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and spiritual preacher Deoraha Baba, whose names figure in the list of those found culpable by the Liberhan Commission, for the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992. "Vajpayee's name was not in the conspiracy (to demolish Babri mosque). His name was only in one of the lists," Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said.
Rashtriya Janata Dal president and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad on Sunday appealed to the Liberhan Commission to summon two journalists of Time magazine for their version of the events leading to the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.
Justice M S Liberhan, head of the commission probing the 1992 demolition of Babri mosque \n\nat Ayodhya, refused to divulge details of the much-awaited report, until the report is \npresented in the Parliament.
The Congress today said the government will take appropriate action on the report of Liberhan Commission which probed the 1992 demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. "The Commission has submitted its report. The government will now study the report and take appropriate action," party spokesman Manish Tewari told PTI.
The Congress today said the government will take appropriate action on the report of Liberhan Commission which probed the 1992 demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. "The Commission has submitted its report. The government will now study the report and take appropriate action," party spokesman Manish Tewari told PTI.
Seventeen years after it was set up, the Liberhan Commission, looking into the Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya, submitted its report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday.
According to a source in the commission who has been privy to hundreds of hearings there were no direct evidence produced against Advani during the entire 17 years of tenure of the commission.
Anupam Gupta, counsel for Liberhan Commission from 1999 to 2007, said Vajpayee cannot be indicted because he was neither given notice or summoned.
On Monday, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress clashed over the findings of the Liberhan Commission, which is believed to have indicted senior BJP leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K Advani and M M Joshi, among others, for the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992.
Maintaining that BJP leaders accused in the Babri mosque demolition fully co-operated with the Liberhan Commission, party president Rajnath Singh today said the report has been submitted after a long delay.
Congress Member of Parliament Jagdambika Pal, who served as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh for three days in 1998, had to face an awkward moment on Monday during the debate on the Liberhan Commission's report in the House, when the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party pointed out that the report listed him as a karsevak.Pal was the first Congress leader to speak during the Lok Sabha debate on the report, which indicts top BJP leaders L K Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
"It is surprising that even after going through with the completion of recording of evidence of witnesses and arguments, the commission has failed to submit its findings. So much so that Mumbai High Court had to comment adversely regarding the functioning and delay in the completion of inquiry by the commission. "Consequently, there is genuine feeling among the vast sections of the society, especially among Muslims," the resolution noted.
Opposition parties led by the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday created ruckus in the Lok Sabha by resorting to loud sloganeering to disrupt Union Home Minister P Chidambaram while making a statement over the Liberhan Commission's report related to the Babri mosque demolition during the ongoing discussion.
Amid controversy over leakage of the Liberhan Commission report, the Congress targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party saying the indictment of those responsible for the incident is very clear.
Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram's reply last week to the debate in Parliament on the Liberhan Commission's report would largely be seen as the United Progressive Alliance government's comprehensive indictment of the role of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its leaders in the demolition of the disputed structure in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992.
The Babri Masjid Action Committee (BMAC) demanded the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Centre to move applications in the Allahabad High Court for daily hearing to expedite trial and judgement in the mosque demolition case.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee was involved in the Ram Janma Bhoomi movement which led to the Babri Mosque demolition in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, VHP chief Ashok Singhal said on Friday.
Political parties termed the scuffle in Rajya Sabha following the tabling of the Liberhan Commission report on the Babri Masjid demolition on Tuesday as "unacceptable" and "very painful".
Insisting that she was not involved in bringing down Babri Masjid, expelled Bharatiya Janata Party leader Uma Bharti -- a prime accused in the case -- on Thursday said she was ready to face any consequence following the submission of the Liberhan Commission report to the prime minister.
The controversy over a derogatory statement, made against former prime minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee by a Congress member during the debate over the Liberhan Commission's report in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, is not likely to die down soon with the party threatening to stall Parliament till he apologises for his remarks. "I am today both sad and angry," said deputy Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj.
The Liberhan Commission, inquiring into the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition, will reveal the names of those who had demolished the disputed structure at Ayodhya.
The Uttar Pradesh government also said the then prime minister P V Narasimha Rao was 'indirectly' involved in it.
The former UP CM said he did not remember clearly what exactly he had said 'against' BJP on the Ayodhya issue.
The panel headed by Justice M S Liberhan was constituted on December 16, 1992, by an order of the Home Ministry and was expected to submit its report within three months. It has already taken over 15 years and incurred an expenditure of more than Rs seven crore so far.
The Liberhan Commission has recommended to the government to examine the desirability of establishing a Criminal Justice Commission.
The Babri mosque issue on Thursday rocked the Lok Sabha with some members demanding action on the report of Liberhan Commission which probed its demolition 20 years ago.
The term of the Liberhan Commission of inquiry has been extended by three months upto June 30, 2006.
Challenging the verdict is a deterrent to future peace and harmony and a socially irresponsible act, argues Vivek Gumaste.
In what may be his last address to Bharatiya Janata Party MPs as Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Lal Krishna Advani on Tuesday expressed happiness over the display of the opposition unity in Parliament on every issue during the current winter session.
Kalyan Singh's counsel B B Saksena cited a statement by the then Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh while making this allegation before Justice Liberhan.
The BJP counsel told the Liberhan Commission that the demolition was unfortunate and uncontrolled.
The government today extended the term of the Liberhan Commission probing the demolition of the Babri masjid in Ayodhya in 1992, till March 31 next year
