Seeking to put L K Advani and other BJP leaders in the dock, Congress on Monday gave a clean chit to Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the demolition of Babri Masjid and made a guarded defence of P V Narasimha Rao while BJP maintained it was public anger that brought the disputed structure down.
The unusual Congress' defence of Vajpayee came during a spirited day-long debate on the Liberhan Commission report on the 1992 demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya that saw other parties attacking both BJP and Congress for the incident.
BJP also closed ranks with party president Rajnath Singh himself leading the charge defending Advani, Vajpayee, Murli Manohar Joshi and even Kalyan Singh.
"Vajpayee's name was not in the conspiracy, his name was only there in one of the lists," Union Minister Salman Khurshid said intervening in the discussion which saw BJP going hammer and tongs at the report which it called as a "political document full of grave errors".
The party also appeared to be shedding its reticence on the role of Rao who has been accused by critics for inaction in preventing the demolition.
Khursheed and another party leader Jagadambika Pal questioned the criticism saying Rao had trusted the assurances given by the then UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh. Khursheed had a dig at BJP wondering if Kalyan Singh was projected as the 'Hanuman' why it expelled him not once but twice from the party and he is now again knocking at its doors.
Culpability does not mean involvement of person in the act as the matter is still sub-judice, Khurshid said. He said this when BJP leader Ananth Kumar pointed out that the list which has the names of Vajpayee and Deoraha Baba was not "any list" but the list of culpable persons.
The Minister said Deoraha Baba's name should not have been there at all. Samajwadi Party, BSP, CPI and JD(U) attacked both BJP and Congress for the developments that led to the demolition on December 6, 1992.
While SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav targeted Congress saying facts have been concealed in the report to save Narasimha Rao, Khurshid said the Congress government's only fault at that time was that it trusted the then Uttar Pradesh government, led by Kalyan Singh, and BJP leadership.
Congress' argument was that Narasimha Rao was a victim of mistaken judgement while JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav said it was not right on the part of the Commission to name Vajpayee in the conspiracy.
BJP sought to embarrass Congress by alleging Pal was a Kar Sevak whose name appears in the report, which was strongly denied by the member.
As Rajnath Singh spoke about the events preceding December 6, 1992, Home Minister P Chidambaram briefly intervened saying the issue of 'namaz' or 'puja' being conducted at the disputed structure in Ayodhya could not be discussed in Parliament as the matter was sub-judice. PTI
