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Daughter-In-Law Says Advani Conspired To Demolish Babri Mosque
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| BJP and VHP leaders raising slogans after the mosque’s demolition |
By IslamOnline’s correspondent in New Delhi, Zafarul-Islam Khan
NEW DELHI, Jan. 19 (IslamOnline) – Gauri Advani, the daughter-in-law of India's current Home Minister, LK Advani, has said in a statement to the Liberhan Commission that her father-in-law conspired with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vinay Katiyar, the then leader of the militant youth outfit, Bajrang Dal, to demolish the Babri Masjid.
“Finish this off. Is the blot of the Babri Mosque irremovable?”, Gauri alleged that Advani asked Katiyar in a meeting just before leaving for the rath yatra (religious ceremony).
Advani, who led his Hindu ultra nationalist party, BJP, to power on the wave of the cry to build a 'Ram Temple' at the site of the Babri Masjid, and personally oversaw its demolition on December 6, 1992, has been claiming all these years that he is not responsible for the demolition.
In an application filed before the Liberhan Commission, Gauri said that she was present at the meeting when the two leaders allegedly discussed plans for the Babri demolition.
Gauri requested she be made a witness before the commission to bring out the truth about the demolition. She called LK Advani's statement before the Commission as “nothing but a bundle of lies based upon concocted and false facts.”
In her 10-page application, the estranged daughter-in-law decried Advani’s statement before the commission that he was anguished by the Babri demolition and that he had nothing to do with it.
Currently, a practicing solicitor in London, Gauri, was Advani’s special assistant from November 1989 until her marriage to Advani’s son, Jayant in October 1991. She is now seeking divorce from him.
Gauri said in her application that as Advani’s special assistant she had looked after his New Delhi parliamentary constituency from where he contested and won election to Parliament.
"The applicant (Gauri) at that time had deep faith in the ideology which LK Advani
used to propagate and bonafidely believed whatever Advani used to tell her as gospel truth," Gauri said in the application.
According to Gauri, on or around November 28, 1991, an application was moved in the Supreme Court seeking permission to carry out a symbolic kar seva [voluntary religious service] in Ayodhya.
Anticipating favorable orders from the Supreme Court, Advani decided to start another rath yatra from Varanasi to mobilize kar sevaks [volunteers]. Gauri said she and Advani’s wife Kamala accompanied him to Lucknow on the morning of November 30, 1992, when all of them left for Varanasi.
‘‘Before the start of the rath yatra (on December 1, 1992), Mr Vinay Katiar came to meet Mr LK Advani. The applicant (Gauri) was also present at this meeting. It was in this meeting that Mr LK Advani and Mr Vinay Katiyar, in the presence of the applicant, conspired to demolish the Babri mosque.
“Mr LK Advani told Mr Vinay Katiyar that the ultimate aim of the Rath Yatra… is not only to do kar seva and appease Hindu sentiment but also to garner votes and come to power at the Centre,’’ Gauri said in her application.
She alleged that Advani told Katiyar that, ‘‘the movement to build the Ram Temple at Babri mosque had to be taken to its logical end, i.e., coming to power at the Centre, and that would not be possible without demolishing the Babri mosque as that will unite the Hindu vote bank in favor of the BJP.’’
Gauri goes on to say: ‘‘The applicant remembers that Mr LK Advani said, ‘Finish this off and again said, ‘is the blot of Babri Mosque irremovable?. Mr Vinay Katiyar looked at the applicant and then said to Mr LK Advani that, ‘We are waiting for your permission and if you say we will erase every trace of the mosque’. Mr LK Advani at that time smiled and then said, ‘So what you are waiting for? Do the job. How long this symbol of slavery will remain. Destroy the mosque. Right time has come’.”
Gauri claimed she was not surprised at Advani’s ‘‘outpourings’’ as ‘‘even at home the family members used to say that the kar seva in Ayodhya would not remain restricted to religious songs or religious music." It was the common refrain during discussions at home that the BJP can only come to power by playing the 'religion card,' she said. Gauri said that after the Babri demolition, Advani exulted on returning home: "We did what we had gone to do.”
Gauri also said in her application that neither Advani nor his family practiced the Hindu religion and that the home minister had given a false 'gotra' [clan] when asked for it before the commencement of the rath yatra. She said the family follows the Sikh religion.
Gauri Advani also disclosed that during and after the demolition of the Babri mosque, LK Advani got various silver gifts in the form of Hindu gods and goddesses, swords and bricks from Hindu individuals, associations and temples.
Since LK Advani and his family members do not follow Hinduism, all these silver items/gifts were melted in Bombay (with the help of Sarla Advani, sister of Kamla Advani who lives in Bombay) to make silver utensils and cutlery items which are now used in the Advani household.
LK Advani, she said, used to claim at home that he does not believe in Hindu gods and goddesses and that keeping them at home serves no useful purpose. LK Advani therefore, decided to melt these gift items to use the silver to make utensils and cutlery items.
The BJP has refused to comment on Gauri’s application and the claims made therein. Senior party leader JP Mathur said, ‘‘We have not seen it. When we read it, we will talk about it.'
Since the demolition of the mosque in December 1992, Advani and his camp followers made many claims during these past nine years: that the central government of Narasimha Rao is responsible for the demolition, that the rivalry between certain Congress leaders led to the demolition, that Pakistan military intelligence (ISI) people provoked the mob to go on rampage, and that Advani was in fact exhorting the masses not to demolish the mosque.
All this goes on while recorded evidence shows that this man led the symbolic religious caravan (rath yatra) across the country, which left behind a trail of anti-Muslims riots killing over 3000 Muslims and burning and looting their properties in many states, that on the fateful day Advani was sitting on a platform from where slogans like 'ek dhakka aur do, Babri Masjid tod do' (give another push, demolish the Babri Mosque) were being raised…
This dubious movement led to the rise of the fortunes of the BJP from just two seats in Parliament for decades to close to 180 seats (out of the total strength of 545), and now for the last three years this party is ruling India heading a humpty-dumpty coalition of discordant parties.
In previous appearances before the Liberhan Commission Advani has uttered many conflicting remarks. Once he claimed that the demolition was the most agonizing moment of his life. In another sitting, he said the Ram Temple movement was a matter of pride for Hindus. In yet another appearance, he confessed that the Babri demolition helped his party consolidate its vote bank.
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