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Katiyar questions need for Liberhan commission

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

Bajrang Dal chief Vinay Katiyar has questioned the very need to have the Justice M S Liberhan Commission of Inquiry into the circumstances leading to the demolition of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992.

Katiyar claimed that the idea behind setting up the commission was to create problems for 'Rambhakts' [devotees of Ram] and persecute them.

The issue, according to Katiyar, has never been in doubt. "Ram Lulla is the owner of the place [the disputed site] and he has not registered any FIR at any police station or asked for a CBI inquiry or asked the judiciary to intervene," he told reporters after the hearing.

Katiyar attacked those who, he said, lacked the political will to settle the dispute. "Politicians in order to protect their votes want to drag the issue on indefinitely," he charged. "I personally believe that the so-called controversy surrounding the temple of Ram Lulla can be solved through talks," he added.

Katiyar quoted some Muslim and European authors to prove his point that the Babri Masjid had been built on the site of a Ram temple. "Even the granddaughter of the Moghul emperor Aurangzeb had said that Babar had demolished a temple to construct the masjid," he claimed.

"When masjids constructed by Mohammad Rasool could be demolished to make way for construction of a road in a Muslim country, why is there so much of a hue and cry if the disputed structure came down? I want to know, when those masjids were demolished was there any hue and cry in India? Did any riots take place? Were lives of people lost," he asked.

Ironically, Katiyar, who will appear again before Justice Liberhan on July 24 and 25 to complete his deposition, said he was happy the commission had called him to give evidence, thus allowing him an opportunity to place the records of Muslim scholars and European writers.

"I am happy that some of the important judgments have also been placed before the commission. I want the commission to arrive at the truth," he said.

He, however, wondered what the government of the day would do with the commission's report as and when it is submitted. "Probably throw it into the dustbin," he remarked, in reply to his own question.

Emerging from the hearing, Katiyar lambasted those who are seeking a ban on the Bajrang Dal. "Yeh sirphiron ke dimag ka khayal hai [this is the thought of madmen]," he said.

Asked if Union Sports Minister Uma Bharti had formally joined the Bajrang Dal, Katiyar said he would meet her to find out the truth about the newspaper reports.

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