Babri mosque demolition dented BJP's credibility: Advani

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Sunday said that he felt the demolition of the Babri mosque in 1992 had 'badly dented' the credibility of his party.

Recalling a newspaper article he had written a fortnight after the demolition, he said that while describing the genesis of evolution of the Ayodhya movement, he had said that the day the disputed structure was pulled down was the saddest day of his life.

In the latest post on his blog, Advani said that some colleagues had criticised him for that statement saying, "Why was he being apologetic about the development?"

Advani said he had replied, "I am not at all apologetic. Indeed, I am proud of my association with the Ayodhya movement. But I am extremely sad that our party's credibility has been badly dented by the happenings of December 6."

"If the exercise contemplated had now been short-circuited in a totally unforeseen manner, the organisations involved in the movement can be faulted for not being able to judge the impatience of the people participating in the movement, but they were certainly not responsible for what happened that day," Advani recalled as having stated in the article.

Stepping up his attack on the United Progressive Alliance government on the controversial appointment of the chief vigilance commissioner, Advani alleged that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh-led UPA government's credibility was in 'shambles'.

In a posting on his blog, the BJP leader alleged that the government has "totally abdicated its responsibility in matters of pre-empting wrongdoing by scamsters".

Maintaining that credibility is the most important attribute of an individual or an organisation, Advani, who has often targeted Manmohan Singh as a "weak prime minister," said, "Today the Manmohan Singh government's credibility is in shambles."

Noting "whether it is the case of P J Thomas or A Raja, or Hasan Ali, or Commonwealth Games officials, it is repeatedly the Supreme Court that has had to take action, rather than the government", the BJP leader said the incidents have highlighted that the "ethical deficit" in the UPA government was "far more serious than its governance deficit".

Advani also referred to Home Minister P Chidambaram's remark that there was a governance and ethical deficit that needed to be taken serious note of.

Advani said President Pratibha Patil had to officially cancel the order appointing Thomas as central vigilance commissioner last Thursday, "perhaps because even after the Supreme Court quashed the CVC's appointment in its order, the officer had not relinquished charge."

Advani had on Saturday said that it is not Manmohan Singh but the Prime Minister's Office that is lacking in integrity and suffers from a "governance deficit".

He had also attacked Dr Singh for blaming 'compulsions of coalition politics' for anomalies in the 2G spectrum allocation.