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`Babri demolition was never the aim`: Advani
Home Minister L K Advani on Wednesday told the Liberhan Commission that the Ayodhya movement was not aimed at building the Ram temple by using force but to convert a
Home Minister L K Advani on Wednesday told the Liberhan Commission that the Ayodhya movement was not aimed at building the Ram temple by using force but to convert a "de-facto" temple into a "de-jure" temple under the process of law or by mutual agreement between disputing parties.
"The movement and slogans (by karsevaks) have to be seen in the background of the whole controversy which emphasises that the de-facto temple needs to be converted to a de-jure temple by procees of law, which can be achieved either by mutual agreement, court order or by legislation but nothing has to be done by force or any illegal manner," Advani said.
Deposing as a witness for the second time before the Commission probing the events that led to the demolition of the disputed structure on December 6, 1992, Advani, who was one of the top BJP leaders present at the kar seva organised at Ayodhya on that day, said the movement was not "just for building a temple but to build it at a place where Lord Ram is believed to have been born."
Emphatically denying that he ever had referred to carrying out the kar seva with "shovels and bricks" in his speeches during his yatra from Varanasi to Ayodhya before December 6, 1992, Advani said he had disowned such statements attributed to him immediately after they came to his notice during the movement itself as "they were not correct." Asked by the Commission`s counsel Anupam Gupta if he did not end his speeches with the slogan Kasam Ram ki khate hain, mandir wahin banainge (we take a pledge in the name of Lord Ram that the temple will be built at the same place)," Advani said, "It is possible, I don`t remember."
Advani said, "It was a popular slogan at that time but it is not correct that I invariably ended my speeches with this popular slogan."
He said the message behind the slogan was that the temple had to be built at the "very spot" believed to be the birth place of Lord Rama as a temple already existed there, which was "destroyed by Babur."
The issue has to be seen in the background of the facts that in 1949 several years after the masjid was "abandoned", a legal controversy ensued over Lord Ram`s idols found in the mosque and court issuing an order that the idols should not be removed from there.
"And it was also on the order of the court that the place where the idols were found, was thrown open to the public and it became a de-facto temple," Advani said.
Taking a dig at media on the controversial slogans and his statement regarding "shovel and bricks", he said, "A kind of negatisim was in the air and stray slogans here and there were picked up and given prominence."
Bureau Report
"The movement and slogans (by karsevaks) have to be seen in the background of the whole controversy which emphasises that the de-facto temple needs to be converted to a de-jure temple by procees of law, which can be achieved either by mutual agreement, court order or by legislation but nothing has to be done by force or any illegal manner," Advani said.
Deposing as a witness for the second time before the Commission probing the events that led to the demolition of the disputed structure on December 6, 1992, Advani, who was one of the top BJP leaders present at the kar seva organised at Ayodhya on that day, said the movement was not "just for building a temple but to build it at a place where Lord Ram is believed to have been born."
Emphatically denying that he ever had referred to carrying out the kar seva with "shovels and bricks" in his speeches during his yatra from Varanasi to Ayodhya before December 6, 1992, Advani said he had disowned such statements attributed to him immediately after they came to his notice during the movement itself as "they were not correct." Asked by the Commission`s counsel Anupam Gupta if he did not end his speeches with the slogan Kasam Ram ki khate hain, mandir wahin banainge (we take a pledge in the name of Lord Ram that the temple will be built at the same place)," Advani said, "It is possible, I don`t remember."
Advani said, "It was a popular slogan at that time but it is not correct that I invariably ended my speeches with this popular slogan."
He said the message behind the slogan was that the temple had to be built at the "very spot" believed to be the birth place of Lord Rama as a temple already existed there, which was "destroyed by Babur."
The issue has to be seen in the background of the facts that in 1949 several years after the masjid was "abandoned", a legal controversy ensued over Lord Ram`s idols found in the mosque and court issuing an order that the idols should not be removed from there.
"And it was also on the order of the court that the place where the idols were found, was thrown open to the public and it became a de-facto temple," Advani said.
Taking a dig at media on the controversial slogans and his statement regarding "shovel and bricks", he said, "A kind of negatisim was in the air and stray slogans here and there were picked up and given prominence."
Bureau Report