Author:
Publication: The Times of India
Date: June 13, 2001
Union HRD minister M.M. Joshi's
deposition before the Liberhan Ayodhya Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday
focussed on the July 1992 kar seva. When the commission's counsel, Anupam
Gupta, asked him for the background of and reasons for the kar seva, Mr
Joshi replied that "a solution was in sight" during Chandra Shekhar's tenure
as the Prime Minister but when P.V Narasimha Rao came to power, he did
not show any interest in any dialogue which the VHP and sants wanted. "So
the VHP and sants decided to perform kar seva in July 1992," Mr Joshi said.
Mr Joshi gave a detailed account
of the documents exchanged between the VHP and the All-India Babri Masjid
Action Committee (AIBMAC) over their claims about the "real character"
of the Babri masjid. He also gave the names of historians, archaeologists
and legal luminaries who formed part of different sub-committees. He read
from the BJP's white paper on Ayodhya, and said the AIBMAC backtracked
from the talks.
When asked to elaborate on his statement
that "solution was in sight during Mr Shekhar's regime," Mr Joshi said
negotiations were focussed on one point: "Whether a temple or structure
existed before superimposition." "Post-Chandra Sekhar", Mr Joshi claimed,
"discussions were not focussed. Many issues were being discussed. The intention
of the government was not to come to any solution." Mr Joshi claimed that
Mr Rao was not responding to the sants' request when they met him in May
1992 to begin negotiations from where Mr Shekhar had left off.
On the kar seva of July 1992, Mr
Joshi at one point said that the BJP was imply facilitating negotiations
between the government and sants and that the BJP was not coordinating
kar seva with Kalyan Singh's government. At another point, Mr Joshi reiterated
that "the character of the structure in Ayodhya was of a temple." He also
stood by his 1992 statement that "construction will strengthen national
unity."
When Mr Gupta showed him a series
of news reports suggesting close coordination between the BJP and the state
government during the July kar seva, Mr Joshi denied any link.
He said the BJP was trying hard
to convince the sants not to pursue kar seva in view of the court injunction.
Then Mr Gupta showed Joshi a portion - "42 years ago the courts had taken
up the responsibility of deciding this issue but could not. Now the kar
sevaks will - from the BJP's white paper and asked him whether this wasn't
a threat.