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Union Human Resource and Development Minister M M Joshi blamed former prime minister V P Singh for breaking an agreement in October 1990 and pushing the Bharatiya Janata Party against the wall.
Joshi made the statement before the Justice M S Liberhan commission of inquiry, set up to probe circumstances that led to the demolition of the disputed structure in December 1992.
"On October 18, 1990, then railway minister George Fernandes and then information and broadcasting minister P Upendra met Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh headquarters in New Delhi. They told him that the government would introduce an ordinance under which the entire land (proposed Ram temple area), barring the garbgriah and the disputed structure would be handed over to the VHP. But no agreement could be reached as Singhal wanted the entire land to be handed over," Joshi told the commission.
He was responding to a question on whether the VHP leader had met ministers in the V P Singh government.
He also told the commission that the same day, V P Singh had another meeting with then additional solicitor general Arun Jaitley and Govind Acharya to discuss the Ayodhaya issue.
He told the two BJP representatives that the government would acquire the entire disputed structure. He also promised to make a reference to the Supreme Court under Section 143 to find out if any Hindu temple existed on the land where the Babri Majid was built later on.
"The agreement was reached and it was decided that the government would issue an ordinance. The additional secretary in the Prime Minister's Office was summoned at night. A three-point proposal was made in the draft, which was ready by 0500 hours. This was approved by the Union Cabinet the next morning," Joshi said.
According to him, S Gurumurthy flew from Madras to Delhi on October 19, and met the prime minister. A meeting was held at the Sunder Nagar guest house of The Indian Express, where besides others L K Advani was present, prior to his departure for Dhanbad, to continue his Rath Yatra.
"Advani said that it was not the intention of the BJP that the government should fall. He said that it was alright if the government brought an ordinance and handed over the disputed land to the RSS/VHP official as its receiver. He said that the ordinance was welcome," Joshi told the commission.
In the afternoon, according to Joshi, when Gurumurthy called on V P Singh, there was a change in stand. V P Singh wanted Advani to defer his yatra by a day and he also promised to be present at Ayodhya when the land was handed over. "He (V P Singh) would go along with Advani and do kar seva himself," Joshi quoted the former prime minister as having told Gurumurthy.
"The ordinance was issued at night, but even before the people could read it, it was withdrawn. V P Singh had gone back on his word because of Mulayam Singh Yadav's threat that he would not allow the ordinance to be implemented in Uttar Pradesh," Joshi stated.
He said that though the BJP was all for finding an amicable solution to the Babri Masjid issue through negotiations, there were others who were determined not to let the talks succeed.
"We would have persuaded the RSS and VHP to agree to the agreement reached between the central government and the BJP. But V P Singh backtracked under pressure and withdrew the ordinance," he said.
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