Author: Report by IANS
Publication: Free Press Publication
Date: April 7, 2006
[Note from the Hindu Vivek Kendra: Will the
secular media take up this issue?]
A commission headed by Justice M. S. Liberhan
probing the demolition of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya is "extremely disappointed"
with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for not presenting its
side of the arguments.
"We are extremely disappointed that government
counsel has not availed of a golden opportunity to state its position before
the commission despite several reminders," the commission's counsel Anupam
Gupta told IANS from Chandigarh.
One of the country's longest running inquiry
commissions, which has cost the government Rs.63.60 million till date, was
set up to probe the sequence of events leading to the razing of Babri mosque
by Hindu mobs on Dec. 6, 1992, and is in its seventh and perhaps last extension
till June 30, 2006.
"It (the government) has frittered away
a brilliant chance where it could have presented its viewpoint to the light
of the observation submitted by the previous administration" said Gupta.
After hearing scores of politicians from the
BJP, the congress and the RSS in its 13-year term, Justice Liberhan had given
ample opportunities to government counsel to present its side of the arguments.
"This was especially in the backdrop
of the arguments presented by previous National Democratic Alliance counsel
Lala Ram Gupta But even after the new government took over in May 2004, it
has chosen to remain silent," said Anupam Gupta.
