Former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, on Monday, told the Liberhan Commission that the Babri Masjid had become a “hostage” in the hands of Kalyan Singh-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in Uttar Pradesh in December 1992 and the Centre had not even a “toe hold" anywhere in the state physically. Explaining the sequence of events leading to demolition of the disputed structure on Dec 6, 1992, he said, “The hostage crisis became even more serious when the kar sevaks assembled there in large numbers.”
Asserting that the Centre had no role to play except to help the state government, Rao said even the Supreme Court had in effect told the government of India to keep out.
Rao said the court itself had taken effective steps including appointing an observer and securing an affidavit from the state government to safeguard the structure.
He said he had sent 20,000 central forces to the State who were stationed barely 10 minutes away from the disputed structure but their deployment was entirely dependent on the orders of the State government.
Rao blamed the sants for failure of parleys saying the Dharam Sansad had unilaterally announced the kar seva date before the third round of talks scheduled on Nov 8, 1992.
In its meeting on Oct 30-31, 1992, the Dharam Sansad fixed Dec 6, 1992 for kar seva. As a result of the unilateral decision, the talks failed The former Premier also said that he owed an explanation to history on the demolition.
Bureau Report