BJP demands scrapping of Liberhan report

The BJP today said the Liberhan Commission report on the demolition of Babri Masjid should be scrapped "lock, stock and barrel", warning that it has the potential to whip up communal frenzy in the country.

Deputy leader of the party in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj also sought to dare the government by declaring that its leaders "inside and outside Parliament" were ready for any punishment.

Participating in a debate on the report, she questioned the motives of Justice Liberhan in indicting her party leaders, as she dubbed the report as a document authored by "an opportunist" with political intentions.

Seeking to drag prime minister Manmohan Singh into the issue, she said at the time of demolition in December 1992, he was the finance minister in the then PV Narasimha Rao government and could not escape the responsibility.

"In the name of God, you (the home minister) should disown the report, as it can cause communal discord and whip up communal passion and violence in the country. Scrap this report lock, stock and barrel," she said.

Questioning the authorship of the report on the Babri Masjid demolition, she said there was ample indication that the retired Supreme Court judge had not penned it.

"Justice Liberhan has not written the report. The government should reveal who wrote the report," she said, adding this itself was a matter that needs to be investigated.Swaraj said Justice Liberhan, on the day his report was tabled in the House, said he had not indicted former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, but two days later said as the leader of the BJP he must take responsibility for the demolition, just as "managing director" should for the wrongdoings of his company.

"This clearly shows that he had not read his own report, which mentions Vajpayee 22 times. Then who prepared the report?" she asked.

"If Vajpayee, as managing director, should own responsibility, what about the then managing director of the Congress (PV Narasimha Rao) and the then director (Manmohan Singh), who is now the managing director," she posed.

The BJP leader said Kar Sewaks had dismantled the disputed structure in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, but dismissed the charge that it was a conspiracy.

"Did the Kar Sewaks dismantle the disputed structure? Yes. Was there a conspiracy? No," she said, adding "yes, we are ready for any punishment, if you want to punish us. Both the leaders inside and outside the House are ready."

She said the CBI, Intelligence agencies and Muslim organisations failed to prove conclusively before the Commission the conspiracy charge, as stated in the report itself.

"Then how did Justice Liberhan come to the conclusion that there was a conspiracy? Just because funds were spent to mobilise Kar Sewaks?" she asked.