On Liberhan Commission Report

Press Statement

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

The Liberhan Commission which took 17 long years to complete its inquiry into the demolition of the Babri Masjid has made a clear and sharp indictment of the RSS, the BJP and other constituents of the sangh parivar. Several top BJP leaders have been named as being responsible for the crime committed. The report demolishes the defence put out by the BJP that it was a spontaneous movement which went out of control and lays bare the meticulous planning which went into the demolition. It shows the utter disregard for the Indian constitution by the BJP and the sangh parivar.

However the report fails to pinpoint the failure of the Central Government to take action at the appropriate time to prevent such a crime. In fact, as is well known, in spite of the repeated requests made by senior political leaders in the secular opposition at that time and the unanimous resolution of the National Integration Council asking the Narsimha Rao Government to take all measures to protect the Babri Masjid, it showed itself to be weak and vacillating in the face of the communal offensive. By giving a virtual clean chit to the then Central Government, the Commission has laid itself open to the charge of a political bias.

The nation now wants to know what action the Central Government is going to take. The Action Taken Report placed by the Government on the basis of some of the Commission’s recommendations is weak and inadequate. It displays a lack of political will to bring those responsible to justice. In the past also those who have been indicted by Commissions for communal violence have got off scot free as in the case of the Sri Krishna Commission report. It is incumbent on the Central Government to prosecute, within a timebound framework, all those named and to expedite the proceedings of the cases currently in the courts. The sangh parivar and its constituents far from showing any repentance are making efforts to use the report to once again rouse communal passions. People of this country will no doubt reject such sectarian politics.