knowledge has no horizons

Liberhan commission’s prolonged probe into the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, the submission of the report to theCentre in the last June after for about 17 years, its subsequent leak of certain parts of the report in certain newspaper, and the government’s hurriedly tabling of the report in the two houses of the parliament yesterday are sure to hook a common man with several questions.

The demolition of the Babri Masjid is not just a matter of common concern, but of communal concern and interest. Communal concern in a country like India is more a matter of serious concern than the common concern. It is said that delayed justice is denied justice. Any commission that is set in the interest of the nation should not prolong the probe for years, as Liberhan committee did. Imagine the years that the Liberhan took to conclude in its report the culprits whom the nation knows well. Here, one may seek after excuses, saying the ATR (Action Taken Report) being framed might be the cause for the delay of the committee. But who answers the statement released today that [t]he Action Taken Report…is weak and inadequate. It displays a lack of political will to bring those responsible to justice.”

One is forced to think that congress plays its usual role of pinching the child and rocking the cradle. A common man with a good memory can remember that Narasima Rao-led Congress government was in the power at the time of demolition of the Masjid. What were the steps that it took to prevent demolishing it? When the Centre has the power of implementing President’s rule or other means, like the use of military force, in any state that is acting against the interest or security of the nation, what forced the Congress government to remain silent in the matters of Ayodhya? What about the Operation Blue Star ordered by Indira Gandhi in the Golden Temple in Amristar, and why is it?

If the state is to be blamed for making the black-marked event happen, the Centre too is to be blamed for allowing it happen. Mere logic is enough to conclude that in a state where the BJP was in power and which organized the rally, promising the apex court not to harm the mosque, possibilities are there for violence. We can’t go to the extent of calling the demolishment a collusion of BJP and Congress for the sake of meeting their political ends, as the present chief minister of UP, Mayawathi, claims. The accusation from the Left parties – “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 (P.V.) 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” – can’t just be ignored and gains momentum at a time where BJP alone is brought to the front as scapegoat.

The Liberhan committee handed over the report of their probe to the Centre in the month of June. But the report was not put on the table for public and political view and discussion till the days before. If the aim of the government is to present the report on the Winter Session of the Parliament, why it did not table on the first day of the session itself? While the home minister Chidambaram claims to have only one copy of the report in his ministry and Justice Liberhan assures of not divulging anything in his report to anybody, who then holds the responsibility of releasing the part of the report to the media? Whether the government intended to prove itself to be incapable of safeguarding even a report. Publishing a part of the report in a daily and the subsequent submission in both Houses at a time when the opposition parties, particularly BJP, expected to exasperate the Congress with issues of sugarcane price, hawala of Madhu Koda whom Congress backed, spectrum scam may tend one to think that the congress might take it to put an end to uproars in the Houses (as it made the DMK supremo to be silent on the matter of Mullaiperiyar dam issue, with a CBI raid in his party minister’s office).

What goes in the nation with particular reference to the Liberhan report leaves little to the observers and people alike. Perhaps, God only knows, and is sure, next to him, the Congress.