Facing an existential crisis over a host of reasons, from transition to a younger generation to the primacy of ideology in the party, the BJP on Monday found a godsend in the findings of the Liberhan Commission Report. After The Indian Express broke the story on the contents of the report, the entire BJP rallied behind L K Advani, the principal architect of the Ayodhya agitation, who has been indicted, among others, by the Liberhan Commission on the Babri demolition.

Sources said Advani conveyed to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat the findings of The Indian Express story early in the day, and had a chat with senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi, another leader to have been indicted by the Commission. The Commission’s findings, meanwhile, acted as glue for the Sangh Parivar — lately caught between an internecine factional war in the party on one hand and tensions due to the altered RSS-BJP dynamics on the other. Speaking in the House, Advani addressed the concerns of the BJP as also the RSS affiliates. While he hit out at the Commission for “mentioning the name of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the report” he also said that “the BJP, RSS and VHP leaders had tried to stop the demolition” and that Ashok Singhal, “who was the biggest VHP leader then also got manhandled in the process”.

“It was not meticulously planned, as it is being said. After this incident (Babri demolition), I myself said that it was the saddest day in my life. This is what I said before the Liberhan Commission. I demand that the report be tabled in the House immediately,” Advani said in the House, even as he asserted that “he was proud of his association with the Ayodhya movement” and that “it was a long-cherished dream for him that a grand temple is built at Ayodhya”. He added that “he would continue to work for it”.

... contd.