New Delhi : Former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao’s “pro-Hindu mindset” encouraged the destruction of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in 1992, senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar said on Monday.
Speaking at a book launch here, many others, including former Congressman Natwar Singh who also worked closely with Rao, described the Babri Masjid demolition on December 6, 1992, as “the biggest failure” of the then Prime Minister Rao, who otherwise, according to them, took bold and timely decisions on economic reforms.
“Rao was completely convinced that by talking to the sadhus and saints he could solve the problem (Ayodhya’s Ram temple issue),” Aiyar said at the release of ‘Half Lion — How P.V. Narasimha Rao Transformed India’ penned by Vinay Sitapati, reports IANS.
Aiyar recalled that on November 14, 1992, his “Ram-Rahim yatra” for peace and communal harmony was stalled at Faizabad and he was arrested by Uttar Pradesh Police. “I was summoned by Rao, he told me he had no problem with my yatra but he did not agree with my definition of secularism as India is a Hindu-majority country. I told Rao that’s exactly how the BJP argues,” Aiyar said while countering contentions from the book author.
Author Sitapati, a product of National Law School at Bengaluru and Harvard University, maintained that Narasimha Rao had actually only “erred” in judging the situation and that “it was only the Congress creation that Rao conspired for the mosque’s demolition”.
Senior journalist Shekhar Gupta said the ploy to “demonise” Rao on the Babri issue was a Congress attempt only to win over the Muslims by saying that “look, Rao is responsible for the Babri demolition and not the party”. “The Muslims of UP are not fools; they knew pretty well who opened the locked gates of the disputed structure,” Gupta said in reference to a decision of the then Rajiv Gandhi government.
Aiyar, however, maintained that even after the mosque’s demolition, Rao told a Congress Parliamentary Party meeting in Delhi that “even kings in ancient India used to consult sages and sadhus and so did I”.”Was this a mindset of a 20th century Prime Minister or 12th century? This mindset actually encouraged the destruction of Babri Masjid,” Aiyar said. The Congress leader maintained that Rao could have dismissed the then Kalyan Singh government and imposed President’s Rule in Uttar Pradesh.
