Babri demolition report tabled in Parliament

The government was initially reluctant to accept the Opposition’s demand given the fact that the Commissions report was yet to be translated into Hindi and there was only one copy of the report available. It,however,decided to go ahead given the apprehension that the Opposition would continue to stall proceedings of the House on the issue. The Oppositions demand came after The Indian Expresss story on the findings of the Liberhan Commission on Monday.

Meanwhile,amid controversy over leakage of the Liberhan Commission report,the Congress on Monday attacked the Opposition party saying that the guilt and culpability for the demolition of Babri Masjid lay with the BJP and its affiliates.

Events leading to December 6,1992,played out in full public view and culminated in the conviction of Kalyan Singh for misleading the court. Perceptionally,the issue in the minds of the people is already settled as to who is responsible and who is guilty. Perceptionally,the issue is already settled as far as guilt and culpability is concerned. It lies primarily with the BJP and its affiliates, Congress spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters.

Earlier in the day,Home Minister P Chidambaram said in both Houses that the report would be tabled during the current session and pointed out that since Justice M S Liberhan had submitted the report on June 30,the Government was required to place it before the two Houses together with the ATR within six months from that date. Chidambaram said he would refrain from commenting on the correctness or otherwise of the contents of the news story.

Stoutly denying the suggestion that the leakage of the report could be traced to his ministry,he said there was only one copy of the report in the Home ministry which was in safe custody. No one from the Ministry of Home Affairs has spoken to any journalist about the report, he reiterated.

Both Houses underwent two adjournments the first around 11.30 am and the second after noon to finally adjourn for the day after 2 pm.

In the Lok Sabha,Leader of Opposition L K Advani,who had given a notice for the suspension of Question Hour,sought to know who had leaked the contents of the report. He said when one of his colleagues had asked the editor of The Indian Express about the report,he had said,I can tell you,it is authentic. There is nothing imaginary about what we have published.

Had there been my indictment,my partys indictment,one could understand,but looking at the mention of Vajpayee,I felt it is my duty to speak up for him, Advani said.

He said after the publication of this report,the government did not have the right to delay its tabling even for a day. Advani said the government should table the report also because The Indian Express report carried a footnote that it would be continued. He said this also amounted to a breach of privilege,but that was a different issue. I have not taken recourse to a privilege motion, he said.

SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav,CPIM leader Basudeb Acharia,BSP leader Dhara Singh Chauhan and BJD leader Arjun Charan Sethi also asked the government to table the report.

Meanwhile,in the Rajya Sabha,Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley raised the issue as soon as the House met. Jaitley said the leakage of the report had lowered the dignity of Parliament,and that the source of leakage is indicated in the report itself as it refers to sources in the Union Home Ministry.

After Chidambarams denial,Jaitley said if that was the case then the breach of the privilege of this House has taken place at the behest of the Commission since the only other copy is with the latter. He sought an inquiry into the matter.