Vajpayee, Advani directed demolition
of mosque, says Kalyan Singh

Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh on Friday alleged that the Babri Masjid was demolished under the directions of top Bharatiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leaders.

He said Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Kishenchand Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and senior Sangh Parivar leaders were "part of a conspiracy" to bring the disputed structure down.

The Babri masjid was pulled down on December 6, 1992 by thousands for Ram sevaks gathered at the site for kar seva, triggering riots all over the country.

"I was the chief minister [then] but they kept everything under wraps and even forced me to sign on the dotted line," Kalyan Singh alleged at a press conference in Lucknow a day after the Union government accused his BJP government of failing to deploy enough central forces to protect the mosque in 1992.

"Under the assurance of senior BJP and RSS leaders, I had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court that the masjid would be protected ...but all of them betrayed me," Singh, who has since been expelled from the BJP, said.

Singh said it was a well-planned conspiracy and to save senior BJP and RSS leaders a false affidavit was filed before the Liberhan Commission blaming his government and the then central government headed by P V Narasimha Rao for the demolition of the mosque.

"It is a lie. Neither my government nor the then Rao government could be blamed for the demolition of the mosque," said Singh.

He said a meeting was held in the central office of the  RSS in Jhandewala in which Advani, Joshi, the then RSS
sarsanghchalak Rajju Bhaiyya, senior RSS leader K S Sudarshan, VHP leaders Ashok Singhal and Giriraj Kishore were present. "I was also present in the meeting."

A letter was drafted by Rajmata Vijay Raje Scindia and Swami Chinmayanand, now Union minister of state for home,
saying that the kar seva at the disputed site in Ayodhya would be symbolic and the government would protect the disputed structure, he said.

This letter was sent to the Supreme Court and acting on it the apex court allowed kar seva at Ayodhya, he said.