Thank you Justice Liberhan
November 24th, 2009
- Babri Masjid before demolition
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi was quite vociferous on all the news channels yesterday to claim that opposition was trying to shoot the messenger instead of focusing on the message. Well, if the messenger has taken seventeen long years to deliver his message he should indeed be shot, no matter what his reasons are, though not literally. The delay is absolutely unpardonable especially if you consider that the last hearing of witnesses was in 2005. Why has Justice Liberhan taken four long years to write this report? Was he typing the damn thing himself or what? But on second thoughts, you can’t really blame him. It was not exactly the question of what to write but how to write the report so as to hurt people and organizations in a manner which will not be too offensive to them. That was the dilemma faced by Justice Liberhan and I think he has done his job pretty well, though very late in the day.
Babri Masjid during demolition
The justice is a very wise and mature man. He knew very well the implications of this report. He knew that this report has the potential to create a chaos in the country which can result in lot of bloodshed. And therefore he has said what he had to say but he did it in a manner that while he brought out what all of us already know he has managed to keep it as vague as possible. Yes, he has named Vajpayee and Advani in this report but if you go beyond the obvious there isn’t really much. And there is a very deep thought behind this. Can you imagine the chaos in the country if he were to say that Vajpayee, Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi or even Uma Bharti were involved in planning for this demolition? Can you imagine what would’ve happened in this country if based on this report criminal cases were to be initiated against these people? Just to point out that Barkha Dutt yesterday said on NDTV that she had gone through this leaked report and there was nothing on which you could file a criminal case. And for a change, I believe her.
I’m not saying that these people were indeed involved but the point is that there is no way Justice Liberhan could’ve been any more direct in his report. If you read what has been written in the report he has indeed implicated BJP and has added that it was RSS who planned the whole thing. But beyond this does he say who exactly in the RSS and BJP planned this whole thing? He does say money to the tune of crores was collected for this movement but does he say who collected it or who disbursed it? Going by the reports that we have seen so far there is no such detail. Suffice to say that his brief was not to be too specific and to avoid implicating these big wigs directly. And he has not.
Advani and MM Joshi at Babri Masjid during demolition
I mean you can’t really file a criminal case against Vajpayee or Advani just because Justice Liberhan says they led the nation to a situation of communal discord. By that analogy you could file criminal cases against many politicians like Bal Thakeray, Raj Thakeray, Narendra Modi and many others. Yes, there are some cases against these guys in particular but if Congress has not been able to corner these guys they would certainly not dare to press charges against Vajpayee or Advani. In fact, in my opinion they themselves are the ones who wanted this report to be vague. It may seem ironic but its actually not. Not only this would’ve led to a communal discord within the country but it would’ve united a failing BJP (and Sangh Pariwar) and would’ve given them a fillip like no other. Though this may still happen but it does not have the potential to whip up public sentiment to any credible level. Had it been so we would have seen armed conflicts on our streets by now. Thankfully, it is not so.
The report does implicate Kalyan Singh though for his meticulously planned inaction but thats more because he’s dispensable. He’s out of BJP and even if a case is initiated against him it wouldn’t hurt them much and would not really cause a public out cry. 
The move to indirectly name Vajpayee alongwith Advani is also quite credit worthy. Because Vajpayee has been named in the report the focus has shifted to him instead of Advani. And because its not just Advani the other parties in the parliament and UPA in particular will not really pressurize the govt to press charges against them. Also, Justice Liberhan has more or less exonerated PV Narsimha Rao as well even as there have been people like Arjun Singh in the past and Salman Khursheed recently who have said that Rao should’ve known where the Ayodhya movement was headed and taken action accordingly. Suffice to say that since Rao was the one who installed this commission in the first place it wasn’t really possible for Justice Liberhan to blame him. And he didn’t.
The timing of this report and its leak are also very interesting. The report was submitted on 30 June 09 only after the Lok Sabha elections in the country were over. Quite understandably, Justice Liberhan waited to see who came to power before he gave his report. Had NDA come to power, in my opinion the report may’ve been further diluted. That is rather obvious. The leak too has been timed to perfection. Elections in Maharashtra are over and except for Jharkhand no other election is due in the near future. Even if BJP and Sangh Pariwar were to use this report to rally themselves it cannot be used to influence voters. Also, the selective leak to Indian Express and NDTV reinforces my belief as to which channels and newspapers are pro Congress and which are not. And don’t bother about what P Chidambaram said that he didn’t leak this report. He did and he was told to do so by Congress. If any of you saw the telecast of pictures of within the Parliament yesterday, Chidambaram’s face was one of a guilty man. There was no doubt it. Though I’m not exactly an expert at reading faces but still I feel he’s the one who was guilty and it showed. Also, I believe Justice Liberhan when he says that he did not leak it. He’s not a politician after all.
When I wrote the post Babri demolition report is irrelevant now I was right about one thing and wrong about another. I was right in saying that Congress would not dare prosecute Advani or other such bigwig and I was wrong to expect Congress to just keep it under wraps. They could have, after all they have not made public the report which investigated the death of Subhash Chandra Bose.
Lastly I wish to say that this was indeed the only way the report could have been written, though the leak was in a very poor taste. Any other way and we would have had blood on our hands. And it is for these reasons that I say- Thank You Justice Liberhan. Job well done even if its seventeen years too late.
Related Post
Babri demolition report is irrelevant now
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Godhra refuses to die down!
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November 24th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
What a great story. all of us need 2 learn politics nd see how v r used as tools by politicians for their gains. how many of us care whether they make a temple there or not. v dont till such time politicians start playing with our emotions and feelings.
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November 24th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Crazy ideas by crazy woman. To say that congress told liberhan to dilute his report againstbjp is very stupid to believe. I dont agree at all.
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November 24th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
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November 25th, 2009 at 1:02 am
The Liberhan report is indeed a relief for the BJP. One the one hand it does not severely indict any of the senior BJP leaders including Advani. In fact it is almost impossible to do so in the absence of any specific evidence that they called for the demolition. And Kalyan Singh is accused of inaction, not because he is dispensable but because it is easy to accuse a person in power of inaction than it is to accuse him of any action.
On the other hand the Damocles' sword of the BJP has fallen down not on its head but on its foot. Now we will debate on it for sometime and then forget it.
So what has Justice Liberhan found that the public had not known. BJP's top leadership responsible politically and ideologically. Yes we knew it and they themselves claimed it. Kalyan Singh responsible for inaction. Yes we knew. The report will only be fodder for the press for a few days and prevent the opposition from coming together and challenging the government on fronts such as price rise and anti-farmer, anti-poor policies. Ultimately the losers are the people.
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November 25th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
wat if BJP is feeling bad that liberhan report is not more implicating? it wud have been gr8 fr them had he specifically named some of them even if from lower rung. wat say?
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November 25th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
The Liberhan Report is nothing but trash.. To be thrown away in a Dustbin... Its well timed, calculated and Mischevious.. to defame BJP.. The Govt. has helped the BJP to revitalise itself.. A welcome sign for BJP..All others signs of slavery demand the same bulldozer..
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November 26th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
the most precious thing is life,I believe that the decision taken would save the lives.Already there are a very few moments of pleasure in our life in this phase of time.we are engulfed with sorrows & pains in this edgy life .Mr honourable Judge i appriciate the wit.
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November 26th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
@Irshaad, good words but I guess this is just a pause before our our polity finds something more explosive to emotionally blackmail our citizens. I hope I'm wrong on this one though.
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November 26th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Sush.... We still live in slavery.. Aurangzeb Road, Shah Jahan Road, Akbar Road.. Famous roads around India Gate.. Heart of Delhi. They were barbarians and invaders and this Dhimmi govt. still worships them ? Where is Veer Savarkar Road, Udham Singh Road, Subash Chander Bose Road, Bhagat Singh Road.. There may be small lanes in their name.. They have been sidetracked. They were our real Heroes..Not the barbarians...
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November 27th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
Hi Vaneet! My dear u r not living under the shades of slavery.... if lanes are gives the names of Muslim Rulers. U accept or not... they came here and established justice here. They did not stop Hindu community to stop their religious services.... they did not demolish any temples... they brought equality here, under which no shudr and brahman were treated and equated together.
What did u return? demolished the Babri Masjid... Gujrat Massacre... suppressed the Muslim Community. Hinduata destroyed Babri Masjid because it was Ram's birth place.. what a surprising and filthy thinking is it? Does Hindu Daram teaches u that u should wipe out other religious places.
Is this DemoCracy... i think it is Hinducracy...
Remember history repeats itself.. and we are waiting for that notion.
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January 12th, 2010 at 3:35 pm
The Liberham report owns no responsibility, bears no semblence or proves anyone guilty of an indispensable act that was long overdue. Mr. Liberham lived gallantly for over 18 years spending over 8 crores for himself in the name of investigating the demolition and ultimately comes out with a bleak fat report costing the life of several trees!
As regard to Mr. Sohail Haider's comments, his knowledge of history is as remosefully bleak as his observations on Mr. Vaneet's opinions. He rather study history before commenting foolishly on an otherwise brilliant blog.
Kudos to you Sush.
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January 12th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
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