Embarrassment for Advani

The New Indian Express
First Published : 29 Mar 2010 12:10:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 29 Mar 2010 12:47:23 AM IST

Some of the old skeletons have been falling out of the BJP’s cabinet recently. While Narendra Modi has been interrogated by the SIT on the 2002 riots, L.K.Advani’s role in events a further 10 years earlier has also come under renewed scrutiny. What is more, the deposition by an IPS officer, Anju Gupta, before a CBI court can have serious political implications for the BJP leader by virtually making him an abettor of the act of the Babri masjid demolition in 1992. According to the officer, Advani had instigated the kar sevaks to demolish the mosque by repeatedly insisting on the need for building a temple at the disputed site. He also never asked the mob to stop their attacks on the structure and subsequently participated in the joyous celebration of the destruction along with other BJP and VHP leaders.

None of this may seem to be a revelation to many people. But for Advani and his party, the officer’s testimony cannot but be an embarrassment, for it negates much of what they have been saying since the fateful December afternoon nearly two decades ago. Advani, for instance, has always maintained that he regarded the day of the demolition as the saddest day of his life although it has never been clear whether he regretted the breaking down of the mosque or the fact that the rowdiness of the kar sevaks had tarnished the BJP’s reputation as a disciplined party.

To an extent, Advani’s contention was substantiated by Manmohan Singh’s acerbic observation that the BJP leader had wept in a corner while his followers ran amok. But it isn’t the political exchanges which are of importance in the present context as perhaps the first direct evidence of Advani’s complicity in the destruction of a protected monument, which carries severe penalties. In addition to the legal problems which the officer’s deposition may create for Advani, the value of his claims can also come under a cloud because of the suspicion that he can be economical with the truth.

Like the Gujarat riots, the Babri masjid demolition has been haunting the BJP from the day of its occurrence. The party has reaped political dividends from both the events although their efficacy has dwindled over the years. But, now, it is beginning to feel the heat of the legal aftermath which, as may be expected, has had a longer gestation period. Besides, the possibility of the legal process having an adverse political fallout cannot ruled out.