Who Demolished The Babri Masjid?

The Liberhan report is with the PM and will be tabled in Parliament soon. Till then, here is Prafull Goradia, very much an old Saffron warrior, writing in the Pioneer before the report was submitted to the PM:

Subsequently came the news, through the several police officers who were present, that a number of men were systematically attacking the edifice walls just below the domes with the help of crowbars. When some leaders questioned the police about their inaction, the reply was that they had instructions not to intervene without a threat to human life. Incidentally, no Minister of the Uttar Pradesh Government was available to contact.

Within the next hour came to the terrace two Press photographers who had been beaten, bruised and bleeding somewhat. Their cameras had been snatched away because the men with the crowbars did not want to be photographed. That is when I realised that those men were Government servants and not kar sevaks who would be proud to be photographed whereas Government servants would be afraid.

The town of Ayodhya was overcrowded with people, perhaps, two to three lakh in number. At 2:30 pm there was an audible sigh by the people which signalled that one of the domes had fallen. From where I was, I could not see it collapse. I did however witness the fall of the other two domes at 3:40 and 4:30 pm. There were tears of joy in the eyes of some of the VHP leaders. The Sangh leadership was neither jumping with joy nor sad with anxiety. By and large, the BJP veterans looked stunned as if blood had flowed out of their veins.

At 5:30 pm all of us came down from the terrace and began wending our way to where our cars were parked. The ten 30-feet walls were still standing as they were in the morning. All they had lost were their domes. Uncannily, not all these years since then have I ever seen a photograph of the Babri edifice without its domes. The earliest next picture was that of the Ram Lalla mandir in a tent hastily established by the Central Reserve Police. It was published in the dailies of December 9, 1992.

Clearly, the 10 enormous walls were demolished during the next 60 hours after 6:00 pm by when the Kalyan Singh Ministry had been dismissed and the President had taken over the Government of Uttar Pradesh. Which means that the walls were demolished by the representatives of the Central Government. Human hands could not have brought down the strong stone walls. To do the work and clear the debris fast mechanical devices, probably belonging to the CPWD, were used.

Human hands could not have brought down the strong stone walls of the Babri edifice. To do that and clear the debris overnight required more than enraged kar sevaks

By rejecting Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav’s accusation that the Babri edifice was demolished by the Congress, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has betrayed his ignorance. On July 11, 1991 The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 came into operation. The legislation prohibited the conversion of any place of worship from its character as it existed on August 15, 1947. There was, however, one exception made and that was Ayodhya. To quote the relevant section of the Act, “Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the place or place of worship commonly known as Ram Janma Bhumi-Babri Masjid situated in Ayodhya in the State of Uttar Pradesh.”

The obvious motive of the Narasimha Rao Government was to secure its posture of secularism; to forbid any change whatsoever in any place of worship in the country. Secondly, the Government kept all options open with regard to Ayodhya where it could do what it liked. The fate of the Babri edifice thus began to be sealed in July 1991. On the fateful day of December 6, 1992, I happened to reach the VIP terrace opposite the Babri edifice by 10.40 am. Most of the senior leaders of the BJP, the RSS and the VHP also came to this terrace. The tenor of the conversation I heard was: Let us hope that after today’s kar seva the popular mood would compel the Muslim community to give up its claim over the edifice. When by noon a large number of youth climbed the domes of the edifice there was consternation. The young men had no effect whatsoever except that they scratched the domes hard enough to show up the colour of sand.

Subsequently came the news, through the several police officers who were present, that a number of men were systematically attacking the edifice walls just below the domes with the help of crowbars. When some leaders questioned the police about their inaction, the reply was that they had instructions not to intervene without a threat to human life. Incidentally, no Minister of the Uttar Pradesh Government was available to contact.

Within the next hour came to the terrace two Press photographers who had been beaten, bruised and bleeding somewhat. Their cameras had been snatched away because the men with the crowbars did not want to be photographed. That is when I realised that those men were Government servants and not kar sevaks who would be proud to be photographed whereas Government servants would be afraid.

The town of Ayodhya was overcrowded with people, perhaps, two to three lakh in number. At 2:30 pm there was an audible sigh by the people which signalled that one of the domes had fallen. From where I was, I could not see it collapse. I did however witness the fall of the other two domes at 3:40 and 4:30 pm. There were tears of joy in the eyes of some of the VHP leaders. The Sangh leadership was neither jumping with joy nor sad with anxiety. By and large, the BJP veterans looked stunned as if blood had flowed out of their veins.

At 5:30 pm all of us came down from the terrace and began wending our way to where our cars were parked. The ten 30-feet walls were still standing as they were in the morning. All they had lost were their domes. Uncannily, not all these years since then have I ever seen a photograph of the Babri edifice without its domes. The earliest next picture was that of the Ram Lalla mandir in a tent hastily established by the Central Reserve Police. It was published in the dailies of December 9, 1992.

Clearly, the 10 enormous walls were demolished during the next 60 hours after 6:00 pm by when the Kalyan Singh Ministry had been dismissed and the President had taken over the Government of Uttar Pradesh. Which means that the walls were demolished by the representatives of the Central Government. Human hands could not have brought down the strong stone walls. To do the work and clear the debris fast mechanical devices, probably belonging to the CPWD, were used.

For the next fortnight, the BJP could not decide whether to claim credit for the demolition or deny its role or to admit its ignorance. Meanwhile, one of its prominent leaders wrote an article in a national daily that the 6th was the darkest day in his life. Prime Minister Narasimha Rao went on the television the same night, condemning the demolition and promising that he would re-build the masjid. Actually there was no need to rebuild the whole edifice since only the domes had been destroyed. Contrary to his promise, the walls were razed to the ground. Obviously, the Prime Minister had found an enthusiastic accomplice in Mr Kalyan Singh, although I surmise, without the knowledge of his senior partymen. He, therefore, became a virtual persona non grata thereafter and was finally expelled from the party.