Opinion Late and not lamented
THE week of the first anniversary of 26/11 began with the release of the Liberhan Report. I was not sure whether to cry or laugh. But one thing is for certain: no one would appoint a commission to examine 26/11. It may not even submit its report before the next century. Of course,one did not […]
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THE week of the first anniversary of 26/11 began with the release of the Liberhan Report. I was not sure whether to cry or laugh. But one thing is for certain: no one would appoint a commission to examine 26/11. It may not even submit its report before the next century.
Of course,one did not expect much from Liberhan. One thing the Indian establishment has learnt from the British is that if you want to sweep something under the carpet,appoint a commission. Then select someone with an impeccable establishment reputation to head it. You dont even have to tell the person heading the commission that a whitewash is required. He knows it instinctively. Here in London,we are now into a fourth inquiry into the Iraq war and we all know that it will not name the guilty.
So it is with Liberhan. No doubt he is an honest upright and incorruptible man. But then he has stretched caution to its limits and taken seventeen years to submit a report. Why did it take so long? I do not know the facts but I can hazard a guess. A commission appointed under the Congress PM,especially one as guilty of studied inaction as Narasimha Rao (Home Minister during the 1984 Delhi riots),could not submit its report while he was PM. It would have been too embarrassing to tell the truth to power. But then it took another eight years before another Congress government appeared on the scene. Being a cautious man,Liberhan waited till he was sure that the Congress was back in power permanently. That took another five years. Voila! We now have a report that says it was all the fault of the BJP,the RSS,the VHP and any other non-Congress body one can find.
Normally,the Government of India is a powerful machine. The Minister of Home Affairs has its tentacles everywhere. In any case,it was no secret that the Parivar mob was going to attack the Babri Masjid. The Central Government has powers to suspend all rules and order the State government to toe the line. How else did Forces enter the Golden Temple in 1984? So it should have been easy to order the local magistrate to order troops or for the Rao government to order them. Are we to believe that the intelligence was so defective that no one in high authority knew of the plans of the core RSS/Bajrang Dal mob to demolish the structure? If true,they should all be named and shamed.
Perhaps Advani did not know what was afoot. Like he didnt know when he was Home Minister and the IC-184 was hijacked. The Lauh purush is actually a sheep or even a lamb in wolfs clothing. He has to pretend to be a tough guy but he has no record of toughness or efficiency when it comes to law and order. After all,the Parliament was attacked during his tenure as well.
The people who attacked the Masjid actually should be recognisable on camera. Indeed,Bal Thackeray named some of them the other day openly and saluted them. So,was it a secret only for the Rao government? The truth is that Rao knew and connived in the act. After all,Sardar Patel and Gobind Ballabh Pant let the Rama icons be installed in 1949 and Nehru had to put his foot down so the idols could be worshipped only once a year. Then Rajiv Gandhi let the fullscale worship happen as a compensation for Shah Bano reversalone for the Muslim fanatics and one for the Hindu ones. That is secularism.
So,either all are guilty or none. No commission will ever be able to settle the issue,which is linked with the political process. There is no possibility of impartial reporting in India. After all,no justice has been done for the victims of the 1984 Delhi riots even after 25 years. Indeed,the culprits are rewarded again and again. No one will pay any price for the Masjid demolition. Except the minoritiesSikhs in 1984 and Muslims in 1992.
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