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Rao had no role in Babri demolition: Pranab

The Congress today maintained that former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao had no role in the conspiracy to demolish the Babri mosque and the denial of a party ticket to him had nothing to do with the episode.

Congress Working Committee member Pranab Mukherjee said the party leadership has the prerogative to give or deny tickets to anyone.

Mukherjee said the shilanyas performed at the disputed site in 1989 did not lead to the destruction of the mosque, as was being propagated by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The vandalism on December 6, 1992 was the end-product of a well-knit conspiracy hatched by the Sangh Parivar, he said.

A large number of officials holding key positions in Uttar Pradesh were BJP moles and they played a crucial role leading to the mosque demolition, he alleged.

All of them have been duly rewarded by the BJP by giving them party tickets in subsequent elections, he said. They include D B Rai, who was the Faizabad police chief at the time of the destruction, S C Dixit, who was the director general of police (intelligence), and K K Nayar who was the district magistrate.

Mukherjee said Rajiv Gandhi's only interest was to resolve the contentious issue in a peaceful manner which was mutually acceptable to both sides. He wanted to keep the Babri Masjid intact and also have a Ram temple nearby, he added.

He said fundamentalist forces were neither interested in building a temple nor in saving the Babri Masjid. Their only aim was to create an atmosphere of hatred between the two communities and therefore any peaceful solution was not acceptable to them, he said.

UNI

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