BJP and VHP leaders raising slogans after the mosque’s demolition

India's current Home Minister L.K. Advani, who led the Hindu ultra-Nationalist Bharatiya Janata 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 6 December 1992, has been claiming all these years that he is not responsible for the demolition. He and his camp followers made many wild claims during these past nine years: That the central government of Narasimha Rao is responsible for the demolition; that the rivalry between certain leaders of the parliament led to the demolition; that the Pakistan military intelligence (ISI) people provoked the mob to go on rampage and that Advani was in fact exhorting the masses not to demolish it.

Recorded evidence shows that this man led the symbolic religious caravan, Rath Yatra, across the country, leaving behind a trail of anti-Muslim riots, and killing over 3000 Muslims and burning and looting their properties in many states. On the day of the mosque’s destruction, 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. 

After decades in which the BJP continued to hold two parliamentary seats, that dubious movement led to the increase in the number of seats to almost 180 (out of a total of 545). For the last three years, this party has been ruling India, heading a coalition of discordant parties. Headed by Justice Liberhan, a judicial inquiry has been in action in the Babri demolition case since December 16, 1992. BJP members have grossly misused their platform to air their biases, misinformation and lies. Within the government, they have tried to change the secular outlook of the state and have been trying to effect changes in every department and field of life, especially culture and education. 

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 source of pride for Hindus. In yet another appearance he confessed that the Babri demolition helped his party consolidate its vote bank. 

All along, the message has been that the party was not responsible for the demolition. Wild claims have been made by BJP, VHP and Bajrang Dal members since the demolition. The fact is that the demolition was a culmination of a decade-long movement by politicians with an unpopular political stream: It was based on the assumption that by raising the issue of the Ram Temple, they can mobilize Hindu voters for their political party. Throughout this process they achieved their goal, but they also polarized Indian society. Even if this ilk somehow disappears from the scene, India will need decades to undo the hatred and disharmony created by this movement.

Recently, a source from within Advani's own household has unveiled the truth about his misinformation campaign. Gauri Advani, his daughter-in-law said, in a statement to the Liberhan Commission, that her father-in-law conspired with BJP leader Vinay Katiyar, the then leader of the militant youth outfit, Bajrang Dal, to demolish the Babri Masjid. “Iska kaam kar do.… Kya, Babri Masjid ka kalank nahin mit sakta?” [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.

In a testimony 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 that she be made a witness before the commission to tell the truth about the demolition. She called Mr LK Advani's statement before the Commission as “nothing but a bundle of lies based upon concocted and false facts.”
In her 10-page long testimony, 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 Jayant in October 1991. She is now seeking divorce from Advani’s son Jayant.

Gauri said that, as Advani’s special assistant, she had looked after his New Delhi parliamentary constituency from where he contested and won election to Parliament. “[Gauri] at that time had deep faith in the ideology which Mr. L.K. Advani used to propagate, and she took whatever Advani would tell her as gospel truth,” Gauri said in the testimony.

According to Gauri, on or around November 28, 1991, an application was introduced to 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 that 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. L.K. Advani. The applicant [Gauri] was also present at this meeting. It was in this meeting that Mr. L.K. Advani and Mr. Vinay Katiyar, in the presence of the applicant, conspired to demolish the Babri mosque. Mr. L.K. 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 stressed 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 favour of the BJP.’’

Gauri went on to say, ‘‘the applicant remembers that… Mr. Vinay Katiyar looked at the applicant and then said to Mr. Advani that, ‘Hum to aapke aadesh ka intizaar kar rahen hain aur agar aap bole to masjid ka namo-nishaan mita de' [We are waiting for your permission and if you say we will erase every trace of the mosuqe]. Mr. Advani at that time smiled and then said, ‘To intizaar kis baat ka? Kaam kar do, ghulaami ke nishaan kab tak rahenge. Masjid ko dhawasth karke dikhao – sahi samay aa gaya hai' [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 Bhajan [religious songs] or Kirtan [religious music]. It was common 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: ‘‘Jo karne gaye the, woh kar aye” [We did what we had gone to do].

Gauri Advani also disclosed that during and after the demolition of the Babri mosque, L.K. Advani got various silver gifts in the form of Hindu gods and goddesses, swords and bricks from Hindu individuals, associations and temples. Since Advani and his family members did 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 that are now used in the Advani household. L.K. Advani 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. He 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 testimony and the claims made therein. Senior party leader J.P. Mathur said, ‘‘We have not seen it. When we read it, we will talk about it.”

The articles posted on this page reflect solely the opinions of the authors. Views Archive Advanced Search Views & Analyses