Note: The demolition of the 16th century disputed structure in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992 is a rare moment in Indian history after the fall of the Mughal and British empire in India. It is also a moment that compels Indians to re-visit both real and imagined historical legacies of last several hundred years.
In the interview the author had asked the veteran journalist: How do the poor benefit from having a mosque in
Mecca, a church in the Vatican and a temple in Ayodhya? How are the
exploited masses beneficiaries from it?
Ram Bahadur Rai replied, "See, a mosque, a church and a temple are part of Dharm Tantra. Dharm Tantra is a Satta (state) in its own right. The poor are not in its agenda. The spread of Dharm Tantra alone is in its agenda. For the poor there is Rajya Tantra. In our country there was a system of keeping the king under dharma but that system is not there for 1,000 years."
On being asked: Both the Congress and the BJP have similar
approach on the issue of construction of temple either in public or
private. Is it true or not?
Ram Bahadur Rai replied, "Till the arrival of Sonia Gandhi, it was the same. After her arrival it has changed."
On being asked: How do non-BJP and non-Congress parties especially
the Left and socialist parties in particular look at the issue of
construction of temple in Ayodhya?
Ram Bahadur Rai replied, "This is a group which has lost
its political path. The secular line which is there in our country is
based on the wrong understanding of secularism or is based on western
secularism. Secularism means Sarv Dharam Sambhav. But here people who are secular are making untruthful propaganda into their principled position."
On being asked: What was the political fallout of the December 6, 1992 event. Who gained and who lost as a consequence? Political slogans like Garibi Hatao and Mandir Banao were never fulfilled. How do unfulfilled promises and slogans adversely impact the prestige of political parties?
Ram Bahadur Rai replied, "The event of December 6, 1992
changed India’s politics. It had two contradictory consequences. One was
that Hindutva politics came to the centre stage, everything else went
to background. Socialism, Communism, the middle path of the Congress,
everything which was going on in politics since 1947 till 1992, this
event overturned this. Ye mera mat hai. December 6 ko jo kuch hua
mein usko uchit manta hu. Ye hona hi tha. Ye apariharya tha. Jis tarike
se hua wah galat hua. (This is my view that December 6 was
appropriate. It was bound to happen. It was inevitable. But the way it
happened was not appropriate.) I spoke to Atal Bihari Vajpayee
on December 6 between 9.30-10 pm on the phone. I met and talked to him
that night. Vajpayee issued the statement, which I had written, some
15-16 sentences on his notepad. He asked someone to bring some sweets
for me but I said this is not the occasion for sweets. He asked me as to
what happened there in Ayodhya. Kalyan Singh was saying that he was
also not told till 6 pm. I told him that December 6 has presented an
occasion to turn it into a movement. I asked him to issue a statement the next day advising the kar sewaks and leaders present in Ayodhya to own the act of demolition of Babri mosque on affidavit nahi to December 6 kalank ki tarah peecha karega (else
December 6 will haunt like a stigma). Vajpayee agreed to spread this
idea but decided not to make this statement. He tried for it but he did
not succeed. Had some 1 lakh or 1.5 lakh people given that affidavit it
would have created a new kind of movement. Because Muslims were not ready
for it earlier, they are not ready now and they are unlikely to be ready
in near future, as a reaction, terrorism took birth. The right thing
would have been that the Muslim leaders should have accepted that this
is not a matter of temple and land but it is a matter of rashtriya akansha (national desire)."
On being asked: "How is the issue of construction of temple relevant for Bangladesh and Pakistan? What impact does it have over there?
Ram Bahadur Rai said, "Do not include Bangladesh in it.
Pakistan is a terrorist state. This event helped the aim of Pakistan to
promote terrorism. Bangladesh is not in this category. It keeps changing
like under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina. There is a conflict which is on since the birth of Bangladesh. When there is a different party in government then Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence becomes active over there. It is more relevant for Pakistan."
The fact is construction of temples, mosques, churches and Gurudwaras
have always been political monuments besides being monuments of faith in
interactions between human world and metaphysical world. What is
politically correct, incorrect and ulterior motives of political acts
does merit deliberation in the public domain. Cobra Post has not a
commendable job of unearthing, documenting and recording the account of
the political action in Ayodhya during the election campaign underway.
It
has already been documented by contemporary officials that both
Congress and BJP wanted to construct temple in Ayodhya and both were
competing to grab the credit of having done so.
Gopal Krishna
Operation Janmabhoomi: Cobra Post
Cobrapost
revisited the conspiracy and the people behind Babri Masjid demolition on
December 1992 and found that it was an act of planned sabotage.
Cobrapost brings to light how certain leaders of Ram Janmaboomi movement conspired to and succeeded in razing the sixteenth century disputed structure to dust on December 6, 1992, a conspiracy even an apex investigation agency like CBI has not been able to conclusively establish after years of investigation
In a major investigation, codenamed Operation Janmabhoomi, Cobrapost gets to the bottom of the conspiracy and exposes the conspirators behind the demolition of Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, showing them confessing to how they laid out an elaborate plan and executed it with precision of a military operation. The expose establishes beyond doubt that the demolition was not an act of frenzied mobs but an act of sabotage by these agents saboteurs, planned with so much secrecy that no government agency got a wind of it. After many years of investigation, the CBI has not been able to find clinching, corroborative evidence against all those 40 it has made accused in its chargesheet.
Cobrapost Associate Editor K. Ashish interviewed 23 of the leaders at the forefront of Ram Janmabhoomi movement who were involved in the demolition of Babri Masjid, either as conspirators or as executors of the conspiracy that was hatched to bring down the disputed structure. Posing as an author researching for his proposed book on Ayodhya movement, Ashish spoke to Champat Rai Bansal, Ramji Gupta, Prakash Sharma, Ramesh Pratap Singh, Vinay Katiyar, Jaibhan Singh Paweya, Dharmendra Singh Gurjar, B.L. Sharma Prem, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, Sadhvi Uma Bharti, Kalyan Singh and Lallu Singh from Bjrang Dal¬–VHP–BJP combine; Jai Bhagwan Goel, Pawan Pandey, Santosh Dubey, Satish Pradhan and Moreshwar Save from Shiv Sena; Swami Sachidanand Sakshi Maharaj, Mahant Ram Vilas Vedanti, Sadhvi Ritambhara, Mahant Avaidyanath, Acharya Dharmendra and Swami Nritya Gopal Das from various Hindu religious orders and seats.
Of these, the Liberhan Commission has indicted 15, the CBI has made 19 accused in its chargesheet, while leaving out B. L. Sharma, Mahant Avaidyanath, Nritya Gopal Das and Ram Vilas Vedanti. In all, 40 are facing trial in CBI court, of which 32 have been made accused in FIR No. 92/197 as executors, while the remaining 8 have been made accused in FIR No. 92/198 as conspirators.
Ashish visited Ayodhya, Faizabad, Tanda, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Mathura and Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, Jaipur in Rajasthan, Aurangabad and Mumbai in Maharashtra and Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh to interview these principal actors of Operation Janmabhoomi, a codename given to the plan by the conspirators themselves which Cobrapost found apt to use.
Some of the findings of the Cobrapost investigation are:
The conspiracy was hatched at the level of two Hindu outfits, VHP and Shiv Sena, but not jointly.
Both these outfits had trained their cader as part of an action plan, many months before it was implemented on December 6.
A Balidani Jatha, or suicide squad, was formed with the trained RSS workers.
Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of VHP, had its training in Surkhej of Gujarat, while Shiv Sena trained its cader in Bhind–Morena.
The training regime included imparting skills such as climbing taller structures with help of grappling hooks and ropes and digging earth with implements like pickaxes and spades, apart from regular drills and physical exercises.
Traditional implements such as chisels, heavy-duty hammers, pickaxes, spades, sabbals, and other tools were procured in large numbers and put to use on December 6, to pull the disputed structure down.
A Sankalp, or an oath, was administered to the lakhs of karsevaks in the presence of all the frontline leaders of the movement like L. K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Ashok Singhal, Giriraj Kishore and Acharya Dharmendra, apart from the entire galaxy of Hindu sants. The Sankalp conducted from the Ram Katha Manch gave a call for the construction of a grand Ram Temple at the disputed site after removing the structure. The assault on Babri was begun as soon as the Sankalp was conducted by Mahant Ram Vilas Vedanti.
VHP cobbled together a band of 1200 RSS workers secreted from their respective zones a few days before the demolition. This secret formation was given the name of Laxman Sena and Ramji Gupta was given charge of this army which was formed to dismantle the Babri. It’s clarion call was “Jai Sheshavtaar”.
Shiv Sena, on the other hand, had a similar band of local workers at Ayodhya, called Pratap Sena, which provided all the logistics for the action plan.
The RSS–VHP–Bajrang Dal combine held a secret meeting at Hindu Dham at Ayodhya a day before the demolition. Attended by Ashok Singhal, Vinay Katiyar, V. H. Dalmia, Moropant Pingle and Mahant Avaidyanath, it was decided in the meeting that the Babri masjid will be razed down.
The RSS and BJP had held a secret meeting at Hanuman Bagh which was attended by H. V. Sheshadri from the RSS and all senior leaders of BJP present at Ayodhya, Vinay Katiyar, Uma Bharti and L. K. Advani.
Shiv Sena had its secret parleys at North Avenue in Delhi in November 1992 which was attended by senior leaders such as Jai Bhagwan Goel, Moreshwar Save, Satish Pradhan, Anand Dhige and others in which a strategy was chalked out before making a move to Ayodhya. Both Balasaheb Thackeray and Raj Thackeray kept a close tab on all these activities.
Shiv Sena had planned to use dynamite to bring down Babri if traditional methods failed.
Apart from traditional tools, the Bihar team used petrol bombs to dismantle the structure.
The local administration goaded and helped the frenzied mobs of karsevaks in removing the “headache” the Babri had become for them.
Many antique artefacts were secreted from the Babri. For instance, two pieces of the stone engraving erected there by Mir Baqi in 1528 that fell apart are lying with Pawan Pandey who wants to sell them.
Leaders like Ramji Gupta who was put incharge of Laxman Sena claim that the army had a simple brief: Once they hear their war cry, Jai Sheshavatar, they will go all out to launch attack on Babri using the crowds as cover and would not stop till they finish the job.
As the Cobrapost investigation reveals, apart from these conspirators, there are two more persons who responsible for Babri demolition as both were keeping a close watch on the developments but did nothing. Kalyan Singh, then chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, had a foreknowledge of what was going to happen. Mahant Ram Vilas Vedanti quite categorically claims to have conveyed it to the Chief Minister on the night before December 6: “Paanch December ki raat ko hi Kalyan Singh ke paas samachar bhej diya gaya tha aur usmein ye kaha gaya tha ki yadi awashayakta padti hai toh dhancha bhi tod diya jayega aapko kya bhoomika nirwah karni hai vichar kar lijye (On the night of December 5 itself Kalyan Singh was informed of it and he was told that if need be the structure would be felled. Now, you decide what you have to do).” Not only that, Sakshi Maharaj also claims to have been giving Kalyan Singh a minute-by-minute account of the developments. Yet, Kalyan Singh played a Nero.
It is also learned that at one point, Kalyan Singh had made up his mind to resign in the morning of December 6 when he came to know an assault on the disputed structure had begun. But H. V. Sheshadri and Murli Manohar Joshi persuaded him to delay it until a clean job of the mosque had been made at Ayodhya. These leaders feared that the moment he tenders his papers, President rule would be proclaimed and army would be called in, resulting in a lot of bloodletting.
The other person who has been accused of having a hand in Babri demolition is former Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao. Cobrapost investigation finds these allegations true as some leaders at the forefront of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement like Vinay Katiyar, B. L. Sharma, Santosh Dubey, Sakshi Maharaj and Mahant Ram Vilas Vedanti openly acknowledge Rao’s supportive role.
There were two determined attempts on Babri, first in 1990 and then in 1992. The first attempt was foiled by the police and resulted in killing of karsevaks. However, Sakshi Maharaj, one of the frontline leaders of the movement, alleges the killings were orchestrated by vested interests in the movement who wanted human blood to give the movement a further push. Squarely blaming, Ashok Singhal for the killings, Sakshi says: “Toh mere saamne Ashok Singhal ji ne kaha Maharaj kuch log nahi marenge toh andolan upar nahi uthega toh aap agya do jaane ki … toh Ashok Singhal ji ne kaha ... Vamdev ji ne kaha bache marenge toh bahut kaam kharab ho jayega ... Bole Maharaj jab tak nahi marenge tab tak kuch hoga nahi andolan, tabhi barhega (Before me, Ashok Singhal said ‘Maharaj (to Vamdev), the movement would not gain momentum unless some people die’. This is what Ashok Singhal said. Maharaj Vamdev said it will be disastrous if children die. Ashok Singhal again said the movement will not get a fillip until they die).” Raising again a figure at the dubious role some leaders of the movement played, Sakshi says: “Main uss din Ayodhya tha. Goli mujhe kyon nahi lagi main nahi jaanta, lekin ek bhi goli Mulayam Singh ne nahi chalwayi. Humare logon ne hi gin gin kar ache logon par goli chalwayi jo andolan ke praneta the main naam nahi loonga … humein pata hi nahi humare log hi karwa rahe hain ye toh logon ne kaha jab tak log marenge nahi andolan upar uthega nahi … agar goli Mulayam Singh ne chalwayi hoti toh Mulayam Singh ke jaane ke baad … BJP ki sarkar aayi goli chalwane walon par karravayi kyon nahi hui. Isase bada praman aapko nahi milega unko achi achi postein di gayi kyon kyonki wo kahin na kahin relation mein the jinhone goli chalayi … aur aur goli chalane mein aire gaire nathu khaire marne chahiye wo Rajasthan ke adhyaks hain Mahendra unke seene mein goli lagni chahiye, Bengal ke Kothari bandhu hain unke seene mein goli lagni chahiye kisne ye sunishchit kiya Mulayam kya jaanein Kothari kaun hain Mulayam kya jaanein Mahendra Nath kaun hain (I was in Ayodhya that day, then why didn’t I take a bullet. I don’t know. But I was not Mulayam Singh who ordered firing. It was rather our own people who got our well-known people shot one by one. I will not name them as they are the founders of the movement … we did not know it was our own people who were playing this game. Then, people said the movement will not get a fillip unless people die … if Mulayam Singh ordered firing then when the BJP government came to power why those who fired upon them were not punished. Instead they were awarded good posts because these people were their relations. When there was firing all sundry people should have died. Why Mahendra from Rajasthan and Kotharis from Bengal were shot at. Who ensured that? How come Mulayam knew who Kotharis and Mahendra are).”
Echoing Sakshi, Sadhvi Uma Bharti blames Vinay Katiyar for the killing of Kothari brothers on October 30, 1990: “Jo log mare the wo Vinay ki galti se. Galti bhi nahi wo bhagdar machi wo gali chhoti thi. Galti matlab wo bhag gaya chhodkar bhag gaya (The fellows got killed because of Vinay’s mistake. Actually, there began a stampede and the bye lane was narrow. By mistake I mean he fled the scene abandoning his group),” reminisces Bharti of the events of the day.
Such allegations add a new dimension to the Ayodhya conspiracy and raise a pertinent question with regard to the intent of its leaders: Were they using the youth as sacrificial goats?
Similarly, we find Dharmendra Singh Gurjar, another frontline leader of Bajrang Dal at that time, on the same page who questions the motive of the entire leadership of the movement: “Ye sab bewaqoof banane wali baatein hain isiliye toh humara desh bewaqoof banta aa raha hai … pehle hum jawani ke josh mein the … junoon mein the ek junoon tha guzar gaya … logon ne upyog kiya aur chhod diya use karke (All this talk is an exercise in making a fool of people … this is why our countrymen are made a fool every now and then (by such leaders)… in those days I was being driven by the enthusiasm of youth … I was driven by plain madness … it was plain madness which has passed … people used us and threw us out after using us).”
This callous face of Hindutva and its leadership bears out in full measure when the reporter tells Mahant Avaidyanath about the plight of the old parents of Vinod Vats who was killed in karseva in 1990. Nonchalantly making light of such supreme sacrifice, the leading light of the movement says: “Sabko marna hai tumko bhi hai mujhe bhi marna hai. Mrityu ko kaun rok sakta hai (All have to die, both you and me. Death is inevitable).” He has the same philosophy for his old, helpless parents: “Wo bhi marenge unko bhi marna hai (They will also die. They also have to die).”
The Cobrapost investigation also reestablishes the fact that the dispute arose after the statue of Ram Lala were fraudulently instated within the mosque in 1949. One of the witnesses who saw it happen is B. L. Sharma Prem. It all happened before his eyes, Sharma claims, when he was posted in Ayodhya with Military Police as a Warrant Officer. Priest Ram Chandra Das, a regular visitor to their unit, informed them how on a particular day would appear Ram Lala and requested him to bring in some friends. Debunking the theory of Devine Appearance of Ram Lala, Sharma avers: “Arre ji kahe ke prakat hone wale … prakat kiya hai … wo toh maharaji ka kaam tha na Ram Chandra Paramhans (How would He (Ram Lala) appear? He was made to appear … It was the handiwork of Maharaj Ram Chandra Paramhans).”
Cobrapost brings to light how certain leaders of Ram Janmaboomi movement conspired to and succeeded in razing the sixteenth century disputed structure to dust on December 6, 1992, a conspiracy even an apex investigation agency like CBI has not been able to conclusively establish after years of investigation
In a major investigation, codenamed Operation Janmabhoomi, Cobrapost gets to the bottom of the conspiracy and exposes the conspirators behind the demolition of Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, showing them confessing to how they laid out an elaborate plan and executed it with precision of a military operation. The expose establishes beyond doubt that the demolition was not an act of frenzied mobs but an act of sabotage by these agents saboteurs, planned with so much secrecy that no government agency got a wind of it. After many years of investigation, the CBI has not been able to find clinching, corroborative evidence against all those 40 it has made accused in its chargesheet.
Cobrapost Associate Editor K. Ashish interviewed 23 of the leaders at the forefront of Ram Janmabhoomi movement who were involved in the demolition of Babri Masjid, either as conspirators or as executors of the conspiracy that was hatched to bring down the disputed structure. Posing as an author researching for his proposed book on Ayodhya movement, Ashish spoke to Champat Rai Bansal, Ramji Gupta, Prakash Sharma, Ramesh Pratap Singh, Vinay Katiyar, Jaibhan Singh Paweya, Dharmendra Singh Gurjar, B.L. Sharma Prem, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, Sadhvi Uma Bharti, Kalyan Singh and Lallu Singh from Bjrang Dal¬–VHP–BJP combine; Jai Bhagwan Goel, Pawan Pandey, Santosh Dubey, Satish Pradhan and Moreshwar Save from Shiv Sena; Swami Sachidanand Sakshi Maharaj, Mahant Ram Vilas Vedanti, Sadhvi Ritambhara, Mahant Avaidyanath, Acharya Dharmendra and Swami Nritya Gopal Das from various Hindu religious orders and seats.
Of these, the Liberhan Commission has indicted 15, the CBI has made 19 accused in its chargesheet, while leaving out B. L. Sharma, Mahant Avaidyanath, Nritya Gopal Das and Ram Vilas Vedanti. In all, 40 are facing trial in CBI court, of which 32 have been made accused in FIR No. 92/197 as executors, while the remaining 8 have been made accused in FIR No. 92/198 as conspirators.
Ashish visited Ayodhya, Faizabad, Tanda, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Mathura and Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, Jaipur in Rajasthan, Aurangabad and Mumbai in Maharashtra and Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh to interview these principal actors of Operation Janmabhoomi, a codename given to the plan by the conspirators themselves which Cobrapost found apt to use.
Some of the findings of the Cobrapost investigation are:
The conspiracy was hatched at the level of two Hindu outfits, VHP and Shiv Sena, but not jointly.
Both these outfits had trained their cader as part of an action plan, many months before it was implemented on December 6.
A Balidani Jatha, or suicide squad, was formed with the trained RSS workers.
Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of VHP, had its training in Surkhej of Gujarat, while Shiv Sena trained its cader in Bhind–Morena.
The training regime included imparting skills such as climbing taller structures with help of grappling hooks and ropes and digging earth with implements like pickaxes and spades, apart from regular drills and physical exercises.
Traditional implements such as chisels, heavy-duty hammers, pickaxes, spades, sabbals, and other tools were procured in large numbers and put to use on December 6, to pull the disputed structure down.
A Sankalp, or an oath, was administered to the lakhs of karsevaks in the presence of all the frontline leaders of the movement like L. K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Ashok Singhal, Giriraj Kishore and Acharya Dharmendra, apart from the entire galaxy of Hindu sants. The Sankalp conducted from the Ram Katha Manch gave a call for the construction of a grand Ram Temple at the disputed site after removing the structure. The assault on Babri was begun as soon as the Sankalp was conducted by Mahant Ram Vilas Vedanti.
VHP cobbled together a band of 1200 RSS workers secreted from their respective zones a few days before the demolition. This secret formation was given the name of Laxman Sena and Ramji Gupta was given charge of this army which was formed to dismantle the Babri. It’s clarion call was “Jai Sheshavtaar”.
Shiv Sena, on the other hand, had a similar band of local workers at Ayodhya, called Pratap Sena, which provided all the logistics for the action plan.
The RSS–VHP–Bajrang Dal combine held a secret meeting at Hindu Dham at Ayodhya a day before the demolition. Attended by Ashok Singhal, Vinay Katiyar, V. H. Dalmia, Moropant Pingle and Mahant Avaidyanath, it was decided in the meeting that the Babri masjid will be razed down.
The RSS and BJP had held a secret meeting at Hanuman Bagh which was attended by H. V. Sheshadri from the RSS and all senior leaders of BJP present at Ayodhya, Vinay Katiyar, Uma Bharti and L. K. Advani.
Shiv Sena had its secret parleys at North Avenue in Delhi in November 1992 which was attended by senior leaders such as Jai Bhagwan Goel, Moreshwar Save, Satish Pradhan, Anand Dhige and others in which a strategy was chalked out before making a move to Ayodhya. Both Balasaheb Thackeray and Raj Thackeray kept a close tab on all these activities.
Shiv Sena had planned to use dynamite to bring down Babri if traditional methods failed.
Apart from traditional tools, the Bihar team used petrol bombs to dismantle the structure.
The local administration goaded and helped the frenzied mobs of karsevaks in removing the “headache” the Babri had become for them.
Many antique artefacts were secreted from the Babri. For instance, two pieces of the stone engraving erected there by Mir Baqi in 1528 that fell apart are lying with Pawan Pandey who wants to sell them.
Leaders like Ramji Gupta who was put incharge of Laxman Sena claim that the army had a simple brief: Once they hear their war cry, Jai Sheshavatar, they will go all out to launch attack on Babri using the crowds as cover and would not stop till they finish the job.
As the Cobrapost investigation reveals, apart from these conspirators, there are two more persons who responsible for Babri demolition as both were keeping a close watch on the developments but did nothing. Kalyan Singh, then chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, had a foreknowledge of what was going to happen. Mahant Ram Vilas Vedanti quite categorically claims to have conveyed it to the Chief Minister on the night before December 6: “Paanch December ki raat ko hi Kalyan Singh ke paas samachar bhej diya gaya tha aur usmein ye kaha gaya tha ki yadi awashayakta padti hai toh dhancha bhi tod diya jayega aapko kya bhoomika nirwah karni hai vichar kar lijye (On the night of December 5 itself Kalyan Singh was informed of it and he was told that if need be the structure would be felled. Now, you decide what you have to do).” Not only that, Sakshi Maharaj also claims to have been giving Kalyan Singh a minute-by-minute account of the developments. Yet, Kalyan Singh played a Nero.
It is also learned that at one point, Kalyan Singh had made up his mind to resign in the morning of December 6 when he came to know an assault on the disputed structure had begun. But H. V. Sheshadri and Murli Manohar Joshi persuaded him to delay it until a clean job of the mosque had been made at Ayodhya. These leaders feared that the moment he tenders his papers, President rule would be proclaimed and army would be called in, resulting in a lot of bloodletting.
The other person who has been accused of having a hand in Babri demolition is former Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao. Cobrapost investigation finds these allegations true as some leaders at the forefront of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement like Vinay Katiyar, B. L. Sharma, Santosh Dubey, Sakshi Maharaj and Mahant Ram Vilas Vedanti openly acknowledge Rao’s supportive role.
There were two determined attempts on Babri, first in 1990 and then in 1992. The first attempt was foiled by the police and resulted in killing of karsevaks. However, Sakshi Maharaj, one of the frontline leaders of the movement, alleges the killings were orchestrated by vested interests in the movement who wanted human blood to give the movement a further push. Squarely blaming, Ashok Singhal for the killings, Sakshi says: “Toh mere saamne Ashok Singhal ji ne kaha Maharaj kuch log nahi marenge toh andolan upar nahi uthega toh aap agya do jaane ki … toh Ashok Singhal ji ne kaha ... Vamdev ji ne kaha bache marenge toh bahut kaam kharab ho jayega ... Bole Maharaj jab tak nahi marenge tab tak kuch hoga nahi andolan, tabhi barhega (Before me, Ashok Singhal said ‘Maharaj (to Vamdev), the movement would not gain momentum unless some people die’. This is what Ashok Singhal said. Maharaj Vamdev said it will be disastrous if children die. Ashok Singhal again said the movement will not get a fillip until they die).” Raising again a figure at the dubious role some leaders of the movement played, Sakshi says: “Main uss din Ayodhya tha. Goli mujhe kyon nahi lagi main nahi jaanta, lekin ek bhi goli Mulayam Singh ne nahi chalwayi. Humare logon ne hi gin gin kar ache logon par goli chalwayi jo andolan ke praneta the main naam nahi loonga … humein pata hi nahi humare log hi karwa rahe hain ye toh logon ne kaha jab tak log marenge nahi andolan upar uthega nahi … agar goli Mulayam Singh ne chalwayi hoti toh Mulayam Singh ke jaane ke baad … BJP ki sarkar aayi goli chalwane walon par karravayi kyon nahi hui. Isase bada praman aapko nahi milega unko achi achi postein di gayi kyon kyonki wo kahin na kahin relation mein the jinhone goli chalayi … aur aur goli chalane mein aire gaire nathu khaire marne chahiye wo Rajasthan ke adhyaks hain Mahendra unke seene mein goli lagni chahiye, Bengal ke Kothari bandhu hain unke seene mein goli lagni chahiye kisne ye sunishchit kiya Mulayam kya jaanein Kothari kaun hain Mulayam kya jaanein Mahendra Nath kaun hain (I was in Ayodhya that day, then why didn’t I take a bullet. I don’t know. But I was not Mulayam Singh who ordered firing. It was rather our own people who got our well-known people shot one by one. I will not name them as they are the founders of the movement … we did not know it was our own people who were playing this game. Then, people said the movement will not get a fillip unless people die … if Mulayam Singh ordered firing then when the BJP government came to power why those who fired upon them were not punished. Instead they were awarded good posts because these people were their relations. When there was firing all sundry people should have died. Why Mahendra from Rajasthan and Kotharis from Bengal were shot at. Who ensured that? How come Mulayam knew who Kotharis and Mahendra are).”
Echoing Sakshi, Sadhvi Uma Bharti blames Vinay Katiyar for the killing of Kothari brothers on October 30, 1990: “Jo log mare the wo Vinay ki galti se. Galti bhi nahi wo bhagdar machi wo gali chhoti thi. Galti matlab wo bhag gaya chhodkar bhag gaya (The fellows got killed because of Vinay’s mistake. Actually, there began a stampede and the bye lane was narrow. By mistake I mean he fled the scene abandoning his group),” reminisces Bharti of the events of the day.
Such allegations add a new dimension to the Ayodhya conspiracy and raise a pertinent question with regard to the intent of its leaders: Were they using the youth as sacrificial goats?
Similarly, we find Dharmendra Singh Gurjar, another frontline leader of Bajrang Dal at that time, on the same page who questions the motive of the entire leadership of the movement: “Ye sab bewaqoof banane wali baatein hain isiliye toh humara desh bewaqoof banta aa raha hai … pehle hum jawani ke josh mein the … junoon mein the ek junoon tha guzar gaya … logon ne upyog kiya aur chhod diya use karke (All this talk is an exercise in making a fool of people … this is why our countrymen are made a fool every now and then (by such leaders)… in those days I was being driven by the enthusiasm of youth … I was driven by plain madness … it was plain madness which has passed … people used us and threw us out after using us).”
This callous face of Hindutva and its leadership bears out in full measure when the reporter tells Mahant Avaidyanath about the plight of the old parents of Vinod Vats who was killed in karseva in 1990. Nonchalantly making light of such supreme sacrifice, the leading light of the movement says: “Sabko marna hai tumko bhi hai mujhe bhi marna hai. Mrityu ko kaun rok sakta hai (All have to die, both you and me. Death is inevitable).” He has the same philosophy for his old, helpless parents: “Wo bhi marenge unko bhi marna hai (They will also die. They also have to die).”
The Cobrapost investigation also reestablishes the fact that the dispute arose after the statue of Ram Lala were fraudulently instated within the mosque in 1949. One of the witnesses who saw it happen is B. L. Sharma Prem. It all happened before his eyes, Sharma claims, when he was posted in Ayodhya with Military Police as a Warrant Officer. Priest Ram Chandra Das, a regular visitor to their unit, informed them how on a particular day would appear Ram Lala and requested him to bring in some friends. Debunking the theory of Devine Appearance of Ram Lala, Sharma avers: “Arre ji kahe ke prakat hone wale … prakat kiya hai … wo toh maharaji ka kaam tha na Ram Chandra Paramhans (How would He (Ram Lala) appear? He was made to appear … It was the handiwork of Maharaj Ram Chandra Paramhans).”
Below are the excerpts of interviews that Cobra Post, Associate Editor K
Ashish had with these conspirators and executors of Operation
Janmabhoomi.
Sachidanand Sakshi Maharaj, fromer MP, BJP
Karsevaks were sacrificial lambs, not a single sadhu died
An accused in the Ayodhya case, Sakshi Maharaj is one of the most
well-known faces of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. His claims suffice to
establish the important role he played: “Poore andolan se main juda
hoon. Iss andolan mein se Advani ji ko, Kalyan Singh ji ko, Sakshi
Maharaj ko, Uma Bharti ko nikal do zero hai andolan. Iss andolan ke
chaar hero hain keval. Usmein sabse badi bhoomika Advani ji ki hai (I
have been a part throughout the movement. You take out (BJP leaders) L.
K. Advani, Kalyan Singh, Sakshi Maharaj and Uma Bharti from this
movement and it is zero. There are only four heroes of this movement and
Advani’s is the most significant role).”
Although an exercise in self-aggrandisement, there is little
exaggeration in what Sakshi Maharaj proclaims, for he was an important
part of the proceedings both in 1990 when karsevaks were killed in
firing on October 30 and in two years later when the Babri Masjid was
finally demolished on December 6. Recounting the horror that visited the
karsevaks when they made a determined move to demolish the structure on
October 30, 1990, Sakshi Maharaj squarely blames VHP leader Ashok
Singhal for the massacre of Ram bhakts.
The revelation he makes is enough to throw most hidebound of the
tribe out of their wits. He explains how the restive karsevaks were
being exhorted to launch an assault on the mosque by various leaders of
the Jan Sangh and VHP and how he asked them to be brought to the
basement of the Ram Katha Manch where he kept them locked. Singhal tried
to intervene but Sakshi Maharaj stopped him: “Manch lagi huyi thi.
Sadhu sab baithe huye the. Vamdev Maharaj apne kamre mein baithe the.
Hum manch ka sanchalan kar rahe the humne kaha koi bhi nahi jayega.
Humara aadesh tha tab tak Ashok Singhal ji aa gaye mike mere haath se
chheen liya. Bhala karo ye aapne kya kar diya ye mera aadesh hai aapne
aadesh diya hai toh koi nahi jayega. Fir main lad gaya aaj tak mere se
asantusht hain (The dais had been set as sadhus sat there. Vamdev
Maharaj was in his room. I was conducting the proceedings. I said nobody
will go.
Ashok Singhal intervened and snatched the mike from me. What are you
doing, he said, you say it is my order. If you give the order, nobody
will go. I had an argument then. He is not on good terms with me till
today).” Singhal went to seek the permission of Vamdev Maharaj and
Sakshi Maharaj followed him there. Claims Sakshi Maharaj: “Toh mere
saamne Ashok Singhal ji ne kaha Maharaj kuch log nahi marenge toh
andolan upar nahi uthega toh aap agya do jaane ki … toh Ashok Singhal ji
ne kaha ... Vamdev ji ne kaha bache marenge toh bahut kaam kharab ho
jayega ... Bole Maharaj jab tak nahi marenge tab tak kuch hoga nahi
andolan, tabhi barhega (Before me, Ashok Singhal said ‘Maharaj, the
movement would not gain momentum unless some people die’. This is what
Ashok Singhal said. Maharaj Vamdev said it will be disastrous if
children die.
Ashok Singhal again said the movement will not get a fillip until
they die).” To further the cause of the movement, Ashok Singhal,
according to Sakshi Maharaj, wanted to use karsevaks gathered there as
sacrificial goats. He even ordered the karsevaks to launch an assault on
the mosque, says Sakshi Maharaj, spreading the word that Singhal had
left for Delhi although he was still in Ayodhya: “Lekin Ashok Singhal ji
wahin par kahin underground the aur unhone ye aadesh de diya ke Masjid
par charhai karo. Ab masjid par charhai karo toh humein pata hai
tootenge log marenge Mulayam Singh goli chalwa dega (But Ashok Singhal
was somewhere there itself, going underground. He ordered the karsevaks
to attack the mosque. We knew if the mosque was attacked, people will
die. Mulayam Singh will surely order firing).”
“Sabse pehle dhyan
hona chahiye ki ek bhi sadhu nahi mara tha (You should notice that not a
single sadhu died),” Sakshi Maharaj says. He goes on to explain why a
single sadhu did not die: “Agar hum log jaate toh hum hi marte. Sabse
pehle Sakshi Maharaj ko goli lagti, Vamdev ji hote unko goli lagti. Wo
Kothari nahi marte wo Mahendra nahi marte toh hum sadhu gaye hi nahi.
Usmein toh unke karsevak gaye jinme mukhya ache ache jinke state mein
pehchan thi jaise Kothari bandhuon ki pehchan poore Bengal mein thi unko
marwa diya (Had we gone there, we would have been dead. The first to
die would have been Sakshi Maharaj. Vamdev too would have fallen to
bullets.
Those Kothari brothers would not have died, nor would have Mahendra.
We sadhus did not go. It was the karsevaks who went there upon his
order, among whom were people who were well known in their home states.
For instance, the Kothari brothers were well known in Bengal. He got
them killed).”
Accusing both Samajwadi Part chief Mulayam Singh and Uttar Pradesh
chief minister in 1992 Kalyan Singh as the biggest liars, Sakshi Maharaj
goes on to make another damaging revelation about the killing of
karsevaks like the Kothari brothers and Mahendra Singh: “Main uss din
Ayodhya tha. Goli mujhe kyon nahi lagi main nahi jaanta, lekin ek bhi
goli Mulayam Singh ne nahi chalwayi. Humare logon ne hi gin gin kar ache
logon par goli chalwayi jo andolan ke praneta the main naam nahi loonga
… humein pata hi nahi humare log hi karwa rahe hain ye toh logon ne
kaha jab tak log marenge nahi andolan upar uthega nahi … agar goli
Mulayam Singh ne chalwayi hoti toh Mulayam Singh ke jaane ke baad … BJP
ki sarkar aayi goli chalwane walon par karravayi kyon nahi hui. Isase
bada praman aapko nahi milega unko achi achi postein di gayi kyon kyonki
wo kahin na kahin relation mein the jinhone goli chalayi … aur aur goli
chalane mein aire gaire nathu khaire marne chahiye wo Rajasthan ke
adhyaks hain Mahendra unke seene mein goli lagni chahiye, Bengal ke
Kothari bandhu hain unke seene mein goli lagni chahiye kisne ye
sunishchit kiya Mulayam kya jaanein Kothari kaun hain Mulayam kya
jaanein Mahendra Nath kaun hain (I was in Ayodhya that day, then why
didn’t I take a bullet. I don’t know. But it was not Mulayam Singh who
ordered firing.
It was our own people who got our well-known people shot one by one. I
will not name them as they are the founders of the movement … we did
not know it was our own people who were playing this game.
Then, people said the movement will not get a fillip unless people
die … if Mulayam Singh ordered firing then when the BJP government came
to power why those who fired upon them were not punished. Instead they
were awarded good posts because these people were their relatives.
When there was firing all sundry people should have died. Why
Mahendra from Rajasthan and Kotharis from Bengal were shot? Who ensured
that? How come Mulayam knew who the Kotharis and Mahendra were).”
If Sakshi Maharaj’s allegations are true, they raise a pertinent
question on the intent of the leaders like Ashok Singhal who wanted to
exploit the karsevak to further the cause of Hindutva even at the cost
of their lives.
Sakshi Maharaj recounts how the then Chief Minister Kalyan Singh was
persuaded not to resign from his office on December 6, 1992. Sakshi
Maharaj claims he was in constant touch with the chief minister on a hot
line.
Kalyan Singh was hell bent to resign as he was not able to keep his
word of not letting anybody harm the Babri, but the karsevaks had done
just that. Although Murli Manohar Joshi tried to dissuade him from
resigning, it was Sheshadri whose intervention worked. Recounts the
episode, he thus says: “Toh wahan sabne kaha ki Sheshadri hi hain bas
Kalyan Singh ko rok sakte hain. Toh mananiya Sheshadri ji ne Kalyan
Singh se phone karke kaha ki main Sheshadri bol raha hoon kaha jo hona
tha ho gaya jo nahi hona tha wo ab hoga. Iske liye main kuch nahi keh
sakta iske liye jitna tumhe kasht hai utna humein kasht hai. Bahut
request karke kaha istifa toh dena hi hai lekin thoda intezar karke do
agar abhi tatkal istifa doge toh yahan bahut badi ghatna ghat jayegi
bache mar jayenge (Everybody there suggested that only Sheshadri could
stop him. So, Sheshadri phoned Kalyan Singh, telling him what happened
has happened. But what should not happen will happen now. I can’t give
you any explanation but I am as sad as you are. Requesting him time and
again, he said if he wanted to resign, he should wait for some time. If
he resigned immediately, the worse will happen. Children will die).”
This is how Singh was persuaded to wait until the Babri was torn apart
and a platform was erected where Ram Lala was installed.
In this interview, Sakshi Maharaj makes another startling revelation
with regard to the role former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao had in
Babri demolition. Naming his spiritual guru Swami Vishwesh, the
Shankaracharya of Udupi, Sakshi Maharaj claims: “Toh uss danche ko
girane mein meri jankari ke anusar jo sabse badi bhoomika thi wo
Narasimha Rao ki thi (So, according to the information I have, Narasimha
Rao played the most important role).”
He recounts how the Udupi Shankracharya exhorted his disciples from
Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka saying in Kannada ‘kuduseva, kudseva’. His
disciples were the first to climb on the domes of the mosque. Sakshi
Maharaj says: “Main sakshi hoon uss ghatna ka bhi jiske sandharb mein
aap aye hain bahut hoshiyari se iski mujhe jaankari nahi hai kis-kis ki
milibhagat thi kum se kum BJP ki toh nahi … Udupi ke Shanakracharya
mukhya dwar par khade the aur sab Karnataka aur Andhra ke karsevak aa
gaye the jo Hindi bhi nahi jaante the sarvapratham karseva shuru hui aur
jo log charhe wo sab Karnataka aur Andhra ke log the (I am witness to
that event you have come to inquire about
… I don’t know who else were
involved in it. At least the BJP was not involved.
The Udupi Shanakracharya was standing on the main gate (of the
mosque) and all karsevaks from Karnataka and Andhra had gathered there
who did not know Hindi. It was the people from Karnataka and Andhra who
initiated the karseva and climbed the mosque).”
All the leaders tried to reason with them but to no avail. Says
Sakshi Maharaj: “Sheshadri ji ne bhi rokne ka prayas kiya parantu wo jo
Shankaracharya the Udupi ke Narasimha Rao ke guru wo wahin ki bhasha
mein keh rahe the kudseva, kudseva pata nahi kya keh rahe the bol rahe
the kudseva, kudseva (Even Sheshadri tried to stop them but that
Shankaracharya of Udupi, the guru of (prime minister) Narasimha Rao,
kept on goading them saying ‘kudseva, kudseva’ in their local language.
Don’t know what it meant. He was saying ‘kudseva, kudseva’).”
At another place, Sakshi Maharaj reiterates what he claimed in our
first interview: “Udupi ke Shankaracharya Jagatguru Vishweshteerth Ji
Maharaj … ye Narasimha Rao ke guru the. Narasimha Rao iss duniya mein
nahi rahe ye toh aaj bhi hain … inhone Narasimha Rao ko taiyar kiya tha.
Toh jo kuch wahan hua inhone sab aise log mauke par lagaye the jo Hindi
bhashi nahi the (There was Udupi Shankaracharya Jagatguru
Vishweshteerth Ji Maharaj, the guru of Narasimha Rao, who persuaded
Narasimha Rao, who is no more, for all what happened that day. He had
deputed such people there who did not know Hindi).”
Sakshi Maharaj claims that he had made submission about it before the
Liberhan Commission.He again recounts his encounter with Ashok Singhal
on Ram Katha Manch that day and what Singhal had said to Vamdev evoking
the sacrifices that the likes of Bhagat Singh made for the freedom of
India: “Unka kehna tha ki bina balidaan ke kuch nahi hota hai keval
taliyan peetate raho … Ram-Ram karte raho isase kuch nahi hona. Ram ko
bhi Sita chahiye thi toh Lanka par charhai karni padi, yudha karna pada
(He said that without sacrifice nothing will happen. You keep on
clapping and chanting Ram-Ram, nothing will happen. Even Ram had to
invade Lanka and wage a war to get Sita back).”
Sadhvi Uma Bharti, former BJP MP and Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh
The Belladona’s shove to demolish the Babri Masjid
When she saw blood of karsevaks on the streets of Ayodhya who were
killed in police firing in 1990 she tonsured her head taking a vow to
see a Ram Temple there. Known as the fire-spitting Belladonna, it was
Sadhvi Uma Bharti who instigated the lakhs of karsevaks with her war cry
“ek dhakka aur do Babri Masjid tod do” (give one more shove to demolish
the Babri Masjid), thus fulfilling a part of her vow.
Reminiscing of the events of the day when karsevaks such as the
Kothari brothers died in 1990, she bluntly says that they died of
failure on the part of their leader Vinay Katyar: “Kothari bandhi ussi
jatthe mein doosre wale mein jo leaderless tha … unko becharon ko samajh
mein nahi aya kya karna hai kyonki leader nahi tha uss jatthe mein
do-dhai hazar log the usmein leader tha hi nahi. Kehna nahi chahti hoon
Vinay Katiyar tha. Vinay bhag gaya (The Kothari brothers were in the
second group which was leaderless. Poor fellows could not understand
what to do.
There were about 2,500 people in their group but they did not have a
leader. I did not want to say it but their leader was Vinay Katiyar who
fled the scene).” She goes on to blame Vinay Katiyar for the death of
karsevaks: “Ye baat main on record nahi bolti hoon lekin ye sabko pata
hai ek jattha mujhe diya gaya tha ek Vinay ko. Jo log mare the wo Vinay
ki galti se. Galti bhi nahi wo bhagdar machi wo gali chhoti thi. Galti
matlab wo bhag gaya chhodkar bhag gaya, toh logon ke samajh mein nahi
aya ke hum jayein kahan. Toh ussi taraf bhag liye jiss taraf police lagi
the (I don’t ever share this fact on record but everybody knows that I
was given a group to lead, so was Vinay. The fellows got killed because
of Vinay’s mistake. Actually, there began a stampede and the byelane was
narrow. By mistake, I mean, he fled the scene abandoning his group. So,
people could not understand where they should go. Coincidentally, they
turned toward a lane where the police stood guard).”
She also debunks the canard spread by VHP that it was the Kothari
brothers who had hoisted the flag on the mosque: “Nahi koi jhanda nahi
fehraya tha 31 October ki jo karseva huyi thi usmein Vasudev Bhandari ne
jahnda pehraya tha (No, they did not hoist any flag. It was Vasudev
Bhandari in the karseva on October 31).” The police had gunned him down.
Admitting to her presence on the Ram Katha Manch on December 6, she
says: “Chhe December ko hum log manch par hi the. Wahan Ram Janmabhoomi
ka sthan wahan se 500 metre door tha. Toh humara usko todne ka koi nahi
tha … Mujhe aaj tak samajh nahi aya kiya kisne. Bas ye tha ki PAC state
government ki thi. PAC ko order nahi mila firing ka. Kalyan Singh uss
samay the (On December 6 we all were on the dais. Ram Janmabhoomi was
500 metres away from it. There was no plan to demolish it … I have not
got it till today who did it. The only thing that mattered was there was
PAC of the state government there, but it was not given any order of
firing. Kalyan Singh was then chief minister).”
Dharmendra Singh Gurjar, former Convenor of Bajrang Dal, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh
Sacrifices , deception and fanatical suicide squads
Sacrifices , deception and fanatical suicide squads
His initiation into the Hindu Brotherhood began with his induction
into ABVP, the student wing of BJP. He graduated into a firebrand leader
of Bajrang Dal from Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, as the Ram Janmabhoomi
movement began to take shape in mid-1980s and attained a critical mass
appeal in the early 1990s. Dharmendra Singh Gurjar was present in
Ayodhya on both occasions: in 1990 when scores of karsevaks were killed
in police firing after they scored a symbolic victory by entering the
disputed site against government orders, and in 1992 when the karsevaks
pulled down the Babri Masjid. “Dono baar the bayannave mein dhancha gira
(I was there on both occasions. The structure was brought down in
1992).”
Now, a BJP leader, the erstwhile Bajrang Dal leader has many shocking
revelations up his sleeve. According to him a month-long camp was
organized in Sarkhej area of Gujarat in 1990, in which 28 activists
participated, two from each state. In the course of this camp, the
participants were given army-style training, as admits Gurjar: “Wo ek
training di gayi thi hum logon ko … army training … lekin hum logon ko
aise training di gayi thi deewar par charh dhanche par charh jaayein (We
were given a training … army training … we were given the training to
scale walls so that we could scale the structure).” Gurjar is quick to
recall the names of some of the participants: Hari Lal Parikh from
Rajasthan, Arun Khanna from Punjab, K. Nagarajan from Tamil Nadu, Anoop
Tiger from Bihar, Dhananjay Pathak from Uttar Pradesh, Ramesh Pratap
Singh from Basti, Pratul Das Satwade from Maharashtra and Harish Bhatti.
In addition to army training, they also received ideological education
from the likes of Acharya Giriraj Kishore, Acharya Dharmendra, Dr.
Praveen Togadia and Jaibhan Paweya.
A suicide squad of 1,200 was put in place to lead the mob and bring
down the mosque on December 6. Recounting the events of the day, Gurjar
says: “Hum log jo 12 the ismein hum logon ko ismein jimmedari di gayi
thi ki aapko iss movement ko rokna hai aur isko iss tareeke se rakhna
hai kuch varisth adhikari. Lekin wahan ki stithi aisi ho gayi thi ki
humko 12 jo kali kali bandhi gayi thi humare sir par toh harek prant se
log the jo iss training mein toh logon ki ye bhoomika thi ki aage aap
log rahenge. Balidani jattha banaya tha (There were 12 people in this
squad. We were given the responsibility by some senior leaders to
control the movement. But the situation went out of control.
We all
1,200 were wearing black bands on our heads. All the people from each
state who were part of this training were supposed to lead the assault
from the front. We had formed a suicide squad).”
The chilling details do not end here.
In all, there were around 1,200 activists who headed the assault the
call for which was given by Ramesh Pratap Singh from these chosen 1200.
Claims Gurjar: “Toh 12 mein se Ramesh ji ne ek nara lagaya ‘Jai
Sheshavatar’. Uske baad chal pade fir public bhi toot padi (Then from 12
of us, Ramesh gave the slogan ‘Jai Sheshavatar’ and we began moving
forward. With us public also began its assault).”
Then, what followed is history.
According to Dharmendra Gurjar, the karsevaks had become so
frustrated and were so livid at the willy-nilly approach of certain
quarters in the leadership which was spearheading the movement that they
would not settle for less than the demolition of the mosque. Then, they
had leaders like Vinay Katiyar, Uma Bharti, Ramji Gupta, Jaibhan Singh
and Acharya Dharmendra who added fuel to the simmering discontent by
deciding in a secret meeting to bring down the structure the following
day.
“Unhone 500 hammer, 500 fawde, 500 gainti raaton raat guptroop se
wahan se manga liye the Kanpur se (They had secretly got 500 hammers,
500 spades and 500 pickaxes from Kanpur overnight),” reminisces Gurjar.
It was Vinay Katiyar who arranged all the tools. Gurjar claims: “Vinayji
ne vyavastha karai thi, Ramji Gupta usmein rahe aur Umaji thi, Paweya
ji, in sabki sahmati rahi (Vinay arranged all this. It was done with the
consent of all leaders like Ramji Gupta, Uma and Paweya).”
According to Gurjar, even petrol bombs were used to dismantle the
walls of the structure: “Matlab log petrol bomb jo the petro laga kar
andar se kood rahe the bhag rahe the (I mean, people were jumping out of
the structure after planting petrol bombs there).
With a friendly BJP government, the local administration was ready to
lend a helping hand: “Prashasan to uss samay se hi stithiti mein tha
kuch karne ki mein tha hi nahi. Prashasan ke logon ne bhi karsevakon ka
sahyog kiya (The local administration was not in a position to do
anything. Members of the administration even helped the karsevaks).”
One thing that rankles Gurjar the most is the neglect of the true
karsevaks by the Sangh brotherhood and the BJP governments which rode to
power after the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. He pours out his heart for
all those who were used as sacrificial goats at the altar of power
politics, be it Puttu Baba who got buried under the rubble of the Babri
in 1992 or the two Kothari brothers who were killed in police firing in
1990. Puttu Baba from his home state of Madhya Pradesh preferred death
to leaving the karseva which was in full swing, despite Gurjar trying to
pull him out as he saw the dome of the masjid was going to cave in
under the onslaught of the frenzied mob. Puttu Baba continued working
from below inside the mosque, saying in the words of Gurjar: “Bole mujhe
bhagwan ke liye marna hai … Bole Ram ke liye jeena hai Ram ke liye
marna hai (He instead said I want to die for God. I want to live for Ram
and die for Him).”
Gurjar continues to vent his anger at the deception of the leaders of
Hindu right wing leaders: “Vastavikta ye hai ki wo zunoon tha uss samay
saikron Hindu yuva aur desh ke kai log usase jude uss andolan mein aur
dil se dimag se aap ye keh sakte hain poore tan man dhan se poori tareh
log jude … vastavikta ye hai desh ke netaon ne ek zunoon paida karke
unka upyog kiya aur dharatal pe vastavikta mein koi kaam nahi kiya uss
samay ke yava unse jude jaise Kothari bandhu maare gaye … Kothari bandhu
aaj gayab ho gaye unka koi naam nishan nahi hai humare yahan Bhopal
mein Sanjay Gurjar maara gaya uska koi nahi Puttu Singh Baba maare gaye
unki aaj bhi Madhya Pradesh mein kya kahin bhi ek bhi phool charhane ke
liye unki varshi nahi manayi jaati aise kai karykarta hain jo uss
andolan mein shaheed huye aur shaheedon ke parivaron ko bhool gaye … Ram
Janmabhoomi ke humare bade-bade neta baat karte hain satta mein bathne
ke baad karyakartaon ko hi bhool jaate hain sachai toh ye hai chahe wo
Madhya Pradesh ke neta hon chahe wo Delhi mein baithe humare varisth
neta hain (The truth is that it was total madness. Hundreds of Hindu
youth and other people put their hearts and minds in this movement. In
other words, they were associated with it with total devotion.
The
truth is the leaders of the country created hysteria but they did
nothing on ground. There were many youth who were associated with them,
like the Kothari brothers, who sacrificed their lives for the cause.
Today, Kothari brothers are eclipsed from their memory. From Bhopal,
Sanjay Gurjar was killed. Then, Puttu Singh Baba also died. Nobody
offers even a single flower to them on their death anniversary, either
in Madhya Pradesh or elsewhere. There are many such activists who died
in this movement but all such martyrs have been forgotten, so have their
bereaved families. All our big leaders who were associated with Ram
Janmabhoomi movement talk only big, whether they are the leaders of
Madhya Pradesh or our senior leaders in Delhi. This is the truth).”
He
is relentless in his criticism of Hindu leaders who rode to power with
the help of this movement: “Jo log satta mein bahe aaye wahan se karseva
jinhone manch se ki hai wo log Madhya Pradesh mein Shivraj ki sarkar
mein Madhya Pradesh mein anand le rahe hain aur jin logon ne imandari se
kaam kiya hai karseva mein jo log gaye hain un logon ko koi nahi pooch
raha hai (Those who did the karseva sitting there on the dais and then
rode to power are now enjyoing life in the Shivraj (Singh Chouhan)
government in Madhya Pradesh. But those who honestly worked for the
karseva are seldom remembered).”
When the reporter draws his attention to what their leaders say if
that they had given a call only for a symbolic karseva on December 6 but
the karsevaks brought down the Babri instead, Gurjar retorts: “Ye sab
bewaqoof banane wali baatein hain isiliye toh humara desh bewaqoof banta
aa raha hai … pehle hum jawani ke josh mein the … junoon mein the ek
junoon tha guzar gaya … logon ne upyog kiya aur chhod diya use karke
(All this talk is an exercise in making a fool of people … this is why
our countrymen are made a fool every now and then (by such leaders)… in
those days I was being driven by the enthusiasm of youth … I was driven
by plain madness … it was plain madness which has passed … people used
us and threw us out after using us).” Drawing an analogy, he says
leaders use us in the same manner as we use tobacco. What he says show
his complete dischantment with the proponents of the Hindutva: “Aise
logon ke sath kiya bees saal baad logon ki zaroorat nahi ya jo bees saal
baad naye yuva honge unka upyog karenge (This is what they did. After
20 years (of the Ayodhya movement), they don’t need people like us … or
they will use the new generation of youth after 20 years).”
Gurjar does mind naming such leaders, and one such leader is Jai Bhan Singh Paweya.
Gurjar also tells how the training camps were used to brainwash the participants with incendiary slogans and hate speech. Saying that as such there was no strategy for demolition chalked out in these camps, he comments: “Nahi, wahan toh samanya training huyi thi jitni Bajrang Dal ki Durga Vahini ki jo training hoti hai wahi huyi thi aur bhashano mein toh amooman kehte hi hain sabhi neta log kehte aaye hain ‘Teen nahi toh tees hazar/Nahi bachegi ek mazar’ bhavanyein bhadkai aur bade neta kya karte hain ek zunoon tha paida hua khatma ho gaya (No, it was a routine training as is given in Bajrang Dal and Durga Vahini and the leaders in their speeches used to exhort us with ‘If not three (temples), we will raze 30,000 (mosques)’).” Behind the scene they would say: “Parde ke peeche har varg mein bhashan mein yehi kehte the ki ek dhakka aur do Babri Masjid tod do (Behind the scene, they in our classes would say: ‘Give it one more push, pull down the Babri Masjid’).”
Gurjar also tells how the training camps were used to brainwash the participants with incendiary slogans and hate speech. Saying that as such there was no strategy for demolition chalked out in these camps, he comments: “Nahi, wahan toh samanya training huyi thi jitni Bajrang Dal ki Durga Vahini ki jo training hoti hai wahi huyi thi aur bhashano mein toh amooman kehte hi hain sabhi neta log kehte aaye hain ‘Teen nahi toh tees hazar/Nahi bachegi ek mazar’ bhavanyein bhadkai aur bade neta kya karte hain ek zunoon tha paida hua khatma ho gaya (No, it was a routine training as is given in Bajrang Dal and Durga Vahini and the leaders in their speeches used to exhort us with ‘If not three (temples), we will raze 30,000 (mosques)’).” Behind the scene they would say: “Parde ke peeche har varg mein bhashan mein yehi kehte the ki ek dhakka aur do Babri Masjid tod do (Behind the scene, they in our classes would say: ‘Give it one more push, pull down the Babri Masjid’).”
Gurjar tells
that there were two meetings, one on the night of December 5 and the
other at about 10 in the morning the next day, and in both a timeline
was set for demolition by all leaders present. “Aur dono meeting mein ye
tay hua tha ki dhancha todna hai 12 bajkar 30 minute par dhancha tod
diya jayega (In both meetings, its was decided that the structure shall
be destroyed at 12.30),” claims Gurjar.
Ramesh Pratap Singh, Vishwa Hindu Parishad
Training camps and precise military strategies
Training camps and precise military strategies
He
is known as one the most militant faces of the Hindu brotherhood, who
was photographed and videoptaped conducting drills on the Neela Teela in
Ayodhya, rehearsal sessions simulating the demolition of Babri. Two
decades later, Ramesh Pratap Singh is a beaten and dejected man at his
neglect by the organization and its leadership he swore by, although he
does not regret what he did. It is this sense of pride that propels this
Bajrang Dal leader from Basti to reveal everything leaning nothing to
guess with bluntness of a die-hard.
Ramesh Pratap accepts the role
his outfit played in the demolition: “Haan mandir andolan mein Bajrang
Dal ki aham bhoomika rahi dhancha girane tak samaj mein naujawanon ko
jodne ka (Yes, Bajrang Dal played an important role in the movement for
Ram Temple till the demolition of the structure, to recruit youth for
the cause).” For this purpose, a training programme was conducted in far
off Gurjarat of which he was a part: “Gurjarat mein training di gayi
thi Bajrang Dal ki usmien poore desh se 38 log training mein gaye the 38
log har prant se poore desh se VHP ki drishti se jo prant banaye gaye
hain. Ek Durga Vahini aur ek Bajrang Dal karke aisi upasthiti wahan hui
thi. Bais din ki training thi aur woh training Gurjarat ke Sarkehj mein
hui thi ye CBI ke usmein bhi aya hai vistar se nahi de paye hain (The
training for Bajrang Dal was given in Gujrarat in which 38 zones,
divided so by VHP, had gone to attend it, one participant from Durga
Vahini and Bajrang Dal each.
The training ran for 22 days and was held
in Sarkhej area of Gurjarat. Even the CBI has mentioned it in its
chargesheet but not in detail).” After the call for the march to Ayodhya
for karseva was given, people had started coming in droves there and by
December 5, according to Ramesh Pratap, three lakh had arrived.
In a
move that only a military strategist can devise, all accommodation in
the holy city had been occupied by these devotees to keep the law and
order machinery at a distance from the field of action. See what this
militant Hindu fanatic says: “Toh usmein pehli tarikh se hi log aana
shuru aur paanch tarikh tak saare log ikattha ho gaye bahut sankhya
mein. Wahan sab awas bana liye the hum logo ne Janmabhoomi ke aas-paas
saare mandir book kar liye the rahne ke liye. Ayodhya mein kahin bhi
kisi bhi prakar se force ke rukne ke liye jageh humne nahi chhoda tha
(So, from the day one people had begun to descend in huge multitudes. We
had erected dwellings around the Janmabhoomi and all the temples had
been booked. We had spared no accommodation for the police force in
Ayodhya).” He continues: “Jo kendra se force bhejegi Kendra sarkar usko
rukne ke liye ek bhi sthan humne nahi chhoda tha saare humne bhar diya
tha (If the central force sent its forces, we had left no space to
station it).” It was part of a well-thought out strategy. “Ranneeti ke
tahet tha (It was part of strategy).”
It worked as the police force
had to be stationed at Faizabad across the Saryu, and it is nobody’s
guess what its implications could be in such explosive situation as the
Ayodhya imbroglio.
Ramesh Pratap continues: “Toh pehli tarikh ko
humko adesh huwa ab aage jaiye woh training huyi thi uss training se hi
jude logon ne toda … pehli tarikh ko humko humare adhikari ne adesh diya
jaise aap aur hum baithe hain ki iss baar iss danche ko tumhein todna
hai kaise todoge ye tum jano … vyawastha jo chahiye jo kisi bhi cheez ki
avashayakta ho usko batao. Uske liye ek aadmi recruit kar diya gaya
(So, on the first day of the month, we were ordered to move forward. It
(the Babri) was to be broken by those who had received training … on the
first day of the month, our officer ordered us, sitting by my side like
we are, that you have to break the structure. How you break it, it is
your business … he said tell me whatever arrangements you want to be
made, tell me whatever you need. For this they had recruited a man,
already).” The man who was entrusted with providing all what was
required to bring it down was, in his words, “Ramji Gupta.”
The countdown had begun.
The countdown had begun.
Ramesh
Pratap was told by this official, “Ye saara saman aapko denge. Humari
baithak kaun lega ye bhi tay kar liya ye the Dr. Durg Singh Chauhan. Iss
samay Dehardun mein vice chancellor hain (He (Ramji Gupta) will provide
you all the stuff. It was also decided who will oversee our meetings.
It was Dr. Durg Singh Chauhan. At present he is a vice-chancellor in
Dehradun).” Repeating this name, Ramesh Pratap expresses his fear: “Dr.
Durg Singh Chauhan. Kahin ye sab batane se sankat na aa jaye hum par (I
am afraid it may bring trouble if I tell you all this about Dr. Durg
Singh Chauhan).”
He nonetheless continues with his revelations. He
says his outfit had its first meeting on day two of the month in the
premises of Ram Katha Manch in Ayodhya: “Ram Katha Manch uske neeche
hall hai wahin humari baithak huyi uss baithak mein hum paanch jo humari
prashikshit logon mein se paanch the paanch ke baad chatha Ramji Gupta
aur Durg Singh Chauhan. Humare adhikari ne humse milne ke baad unka
sampark wahi unka adesh tha baithak lenge Durg Singh Chauhan aur
karravai jo bhi aapko karna ho aap kya karoge rachna kya karoge theek
hai wo parde se huth gaye (There was a hall in the basement of Ram Katha
Manch where our meeting took place. There were five persons from among
those who had received training in this meeting. The sixth person was
Ramji Gupta and then there was Durg Singh Chauhan. After meeting with us
this office bearer told us Durg Singh Chauhan would be our contact
point and he would coordinate all the meetings. Decide whatever you
want, how you will form it. After that this official disappeared from
the scene).”
You must be wondering, like us, who this mystery man
was. “Unka naam bhi bataoon (Shall I tell his name also?),” asks Ramesh
Pratap, and upon our prodding, goes on to reveal who this man is:
“Mananiya Champatrai. Ashok ji ke saathi sahyogi Ashok ji ke VHP ka sara
bhar Champatrai ji ke upar tha Champatrai (Honourable Champatrai,
comrade and aide of Ashok (Singhal). It was Champatrai who looked after
all functions of VHP).”
The select five trained saboteurs of Bajrang
Dal chosen for the job were Dharmendra Singh Gurjar, Hariya Lal Parikh
from Rajasthan, Arun Khanna from Punjab, K. Nagarajan from Tamil Nadu,
Arun Kumar from Bihar, and Ramesh Pratap himself. It was in this meeting
where it was decided to form Laxman Sena. Ramesh Pratap himself
describes it: “Toh do tarikh ko humen paanch bulaye Madhya Bharat se
Dharmendra Gurjar, Gwalior se hai Dharmendra Singh Gurjar, Rajasthan se
Hariyalal Parikh Punjab se Arun Khanna, Tamil Nadu K. Nagarajan … K.
Nagarajan mulzim nahi hai, Arun Kumar Tiger Bihar Jharkhand ek Ramesh
Pratap ho hi gaye (On day two of the month we called the select five.
Dharmendra Singh Gurjar, from Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, Hariya Lal Parikh
from Rajasthan, Arun Khanna from Punjab, K. Nagarajan from Tamil Nadu,
K. Nagarajan is not an accused in the case, Arun Kumar Tiger from
Jharkahand (then part of) Bihar and me Ramesh Pratap).”
Recounting
how it all took shape, without uttering a single word about the proposed
army, he says: “Humne baithak ki baithak mein ye tay kiya gaya ki aap
apne prant se sankyha nikaloge karyakarta theek. Iss prakar se nikalna
hai Sangathan Mantri ko bhi pata nahi chale … kisi ko bhi pata na chale.
Aise aap pachas–pachas log apne yahan se nikaloge fir unhi mein se
daswen ke baad igyarahven ko pramukh banaya jayega. Dus dus ki toli
banayi gayi, igyarah-igyarah ki ek pramukh. Iss tareh se rachna kar di
gayi sangathan ki naam rakha gaya Laxman Sena (We held the meeting in
which it was decided that wewould select workers from our respective
regions and in a manner that even the parties’ organization secretary
does not get a whiff of what is happening … nobody should come to know
about it. This is how you will choose 50 workers each from your regions.
After the tenth, the eleventh will be appointed head of the group. This
is how we formed groups of 10 workers each with a head. The
organization thus formed was named Laxman Sena).”
Those selected were
of good build, and the task was cut out for each group which included,
among others, a daily drill at Neela Teela. “Neela Teela hai wahin par
Ram Janmabhoomi ke paas Neela Teela par drill khudai abhyas ek ghanta
matlab varjish karate the ek ghanta karana wo karna hi hai theek hai …
paanch tarikh ko sabko duty bant gayi jo samaan humne list diya itne
hammer chahiye, kitni chainiyan chahiye, kitna rassa chahiye. Ye humko
teen tarikh ko hi mil gaya, kitna chana bhigoya rehna chahiye nashte
mein sara kuch planning mein koi dikkat nahin. Fir humne duty tay kar li
kaun log shuruat kar aage barhenge kaante aapne photo mein dekhe honge
rassse mein charh karke (There is this Neela Teela in the proximity of
Ram Janmabhoomi where we would hold drills, would practice digging and
would do exercises for an hour daily. This was mandatory … on day five
duties had been assigned to each group. We had given them a list of how
many hammers we need, how many chisels we need and how many ropes we
need. We had got all these tools on day three. It was also planned how
many grams should be soaked in water for breakfast the next day. There
was nothing left in planning. Then we assigned duties, who will initiate
the move, and you must have seen in the photographs of us practicing
rope climbing with grappling hooks),” reminisces Ramesh Pratap.
To
signal action, a codeword in the form of a slogan was also decided:
“Saare upkaran humne taiyar kar liye sabki duty bant gayi ye tay ho gaya
ki jab hum nara bolenge ‘Jai Shesahavatar’ code tay ho gaya. Jisko jo
duty hai apni karravai chaloo kar dega fir apne koi bhi neta adhikari
rokne ke liye bolenge kisi bhi bhasha mein lekin ye bina break ki gaari
khulegi rukne ki nahi apna kaam (All the equipment was ready with us.
Everybody had been assigned their duties and a codeword ‘Jai
Shesahavatar’ had been decided to signal every group to act according to
the duty assigned. Then, nobody would stop if any of our leaders asked
them to do so. This was going to be like an uncontrolled vehicle rolling
down without brakes).”
The directive was loud and clear: They would
not stop once it begins, no matter how senior a leader asks them to do
so. Says Ramesh Pratap: “Ruk jao toh humko sunana nahi humko apna kaam
karna hai (Even if some leader asks us to stop we would not listen to
him).”
He recollects the names of all the leaders who were present
there on Ram Katha Manch on December 6: “Mananiya Ashok ji Singhal,
Sadhvi Ritambhara ji, Uma Bharti thi, Advani ji the, Vinay Katiyar the,
Brij Bhushan the (Ashok Singhal, Sadhvi Ritambhara, Uma Bharti, Advani,
Vinay Katiyar and Brij Bhushan all were there).” But he did not meet any
of them for obvious reason: “Hum apne kaam mein lage the (I was busy
doing my duty).”
Seeking to confirm what he claimed, the reporter asked him if he too was there on December 6.
“Chhe December ko hi toh toda tha (We broke it down on December 6),” retorts Ramesh Pratap, somewhat peeved.
“Chhe December ko hi toh toda tha (We broke it down on December 6),” retorts Ramesh Pratap, somewhat peeved.
He
now goes about telling what he did that day: “Pehle toh second number
par charh gaye the … pehle number jo kooda ladka wo Gwalior ka hi hai
Gwalior ka ladka hai naam nahi yaad pad raha hai wo upar ki taraf kooda
aur jab bheed lagi toh hum logon ko rokne ke liye kuch logon ko lagaya
tha ki bheed na udhar jaye idhar se karsevak baloo daalkar chale jayen
ussi mein jhagda ho gaya ussi samay humne bol diya ‘Jai Sheshavatar’ …
waqt aa gaya kaam kar do (First, I scaled the second dome (of the
mosque). There was this boy from Gwalior. I am unable to recall his
name. He jumped on the first dome. Seeing him the crowds surged towards
it, our cadre who had been stationed there to stop karsevaks from coming
to this side, told them to offer sand and leave. This resulted in a
scuffle. I shouted ‘Jai Sheshavatar’ signalling it was time to finish
the job).”
The boy who had scaled the first dome of Babri, Ramesh
Pratap is able to recollect later on, is Ravindra Singh Kushwaha, who is
now a lawyer at Gwalior.
Speaking of the training they received in
Gurjarat, Ramesh Pratap says: “Vyavasthit training jiss tareh sena mein
di jaati hai commando course karaya jata hai (This was a well-organized
training on the lines of the army, like they are given a commando
course).” This commando-like training was imparted by retired military
and police officers but he is unable to recollect their names: “Ab VHP
ke adhikari toh wahan the ab sena ke retired logon ka naam kahan yaad
rehta hai Gorkha the jo training kara rahe the Basant Narayan Apte ho
sakta ho zinda hon DIG retired, rifle ki training dete the … Narayan
Apte Gurjarat ke hi hain Ahmedabad ke (The office bearers of VHP would
be there. How can you remember the names of those retired officers of
the army? One was a Gorkha who was imparting the training. Retired DIG
Basant Narayan Apte gave us rifle training. He might be still alive. He
is from Ahmedabad, Gurjarat).”
Both VHP and RSS office bearers --
such as Kukrekar, Acharya Giriraj Kishore, Mohan Bhagwat and Mohanji
Joshi -- would come to oversee the training. Ashok Singhal came on the
day when the training was completed. Says Ramesh Pratap: “Haan VHP ke
Kukrekarji … Acharya Giriraj Kishore the … poora time Mohan Bhagwat …
haan aur fir Mohan ji Joshi ye aate-jaate the last mein Ashok ji Singhal
aaye the (Yes. Kukrekar from VHP, Acharya Giriraj Kishore, Mohan
Bhagwat would be there full time, yes, and Mohanji Joshi who would come
and go. Ashok Singhal came on the last day).”
The police slapped a case on Ramesh Pratap and he was arrested by the CBI from his village. Since then he is defending himself in the courts, with no help from his organization. Says Ramesh Pratap, who is now suffering from a kidney ailment: “Kahin kisi ne madad nahi ki (Nobody has helped me).”
The police slapped a case on Ramesh Pratap and he was arrested by the CBI from his village. Since then he is defending himself in the courts, with no help from his organization. Says Ramesh Pratap, who is now suffering from a kidney ailment: “Kahin kisi ne madad nahi ki (Nobody has helped me).”
Santosh Dubey, former president of Shiv Sena, Faizabad
Secret meetings and a deficit of trust
Secret meetings and a deficit of trust
This
firebrand leader of the Hindu Brigade that tore down the disputed
structure on December 6 proudly recounts his role in it. Critical of the
BJP leadership, particularly L. K. Advani, Santosh Dubey makes many
startling revelations. According to Dubey, it was Brahmadutt Dwivedi who
introduced him to many senior BJP leaders including Advani with the aim
of bringing down the mosque.
A couple of days before December 6, a
secret meeting in Janaki Mahal in Hanuman Bagh at Ayodhya was held.
Brahmadutt Dwivedi took Dubey to this meeting where he was introduced to
Advani. There were about 500 people in this meeting, including Advani,
Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, Sadhvi Ritambhara, Lallu Singh, Vinay
Katiyar, Brij Bhushan Singh, MP Hudda, Ramapati Shastri, Ashok Singhal,
H.V. Sheshadri, Mahesh Narayan, Purushottam Narayan, Ram Chandra
Paramhans, Nritya Gopal Das, Mahand Avaidyanath, Mahant Saryu Das and
Mahant Man Mahesh Das.
Leaders like Ritambhara who spoke in this
meeting appealed to the congregation to destroy the mosque, a “symbol of
slavery”. Reminisces Dubey of his meeting with Advani: “Haan, haan main
gaya wahan. Brahmadutt ji ne parichay karaya. Jiske liye aapse baat hui
thi ye hi Santosh Dubey hain. Humne unke pair chhue sammanpoorvak.
Sheshadri ji, Murli Manohar Joshi aur Advani the sab toh the. Saath
baithe. Bataiyega dhancha kaise tootega? Humne kaha aap bataiye, kagaz
ki naav thodi hai paani par taira do. Unhone kaha kya chahiye? Toh humne
bataya jo chahiye tha. Unhone kaha uplabdh ho jayega, Brahmaduttji
dilwa dengne. Brahmduttji ne uplabdh karawaya (Yes, I went there.
Brahmadutt introduced me saying here is Santosh Dubey I spoke to you
about. I touched their feet in respect. Sheshadri, Murli Manohar Joshi
and Advani all were there. I sat with them. (They asked) ‘Tell us how
the structure will be brought down?’ ‘You tell me,’ I asked. It is not a
paper boat which you can simply float on water. ‘What do you need?’
they asked. I told them all what was needed. Will be made available,
they said, Brahmadutt will make it available. Brahmadutt made it
available).”
In that secret meeting, Advani gave a clarion call for
the destruction of Babri. Says Dubey: “Uss din diya unhone. Unhone
lalkara theek se lalkara unhone kaha ki hum chahte hain 6 December ko
saayam 5–6 baje tak samtal ho jaaye wahan kuch rah na jaye (He gave this
clarion call, saying he wanted the structure to be levelled completely
by 6 pm in the evening on December 6. Nothing should be left of it
there).”
There was another top secret meeting that was held a day
before, according to Dubey, at Janaki Mahal in which top leaders of VHP
and BJP participated, such as Ashok Singhal and Vishnu Hari Dalmiya.
But
there was a deficit of trust between the BJP and the Shiv Sena
leadership. Speaking of the meeting and all sorts of exhortation leaders
made their, Dubey says: “Bamke khoob, bamke upar se. Andar kya tha wo
samajh mein nahi aa raha tha, isliye hum log Congressiyon se bhi sampark
banaye hue the. Ye log vishwas karne layak nahi hain (They were all
boiling very much, but only from outside. What was going in their heads,
we could not understand. So, we were in touch with the Congress
leadership as well. These (BJP) fellows are not trustworthy).”
And
this contact with the Congress leadership went up to none other than the
man at the helms, P. V. Narasimha Rao, who emerges as no less an agent
provocateur in this sordid saga. It was again Brahmadutt Dwivedi who
introduced Dubey to Rao: “Brahmadutt Dwivedi humko yahin se lekar gaye
the. PM House tak lekar gaye (Brahmadutt Dwivedi picked me up from here
itself (Ayodhya) and took me to the PM’s house).” It was his first and
the last visit to the PM’s house. Judging him as a shrewd politician who
played a ‘positive role’, Dubey recalls his meeting with Rao: “Unhone
kaha pradesh ka mamla hia Kalyan Singh ki sarkar jaane. Unhone humko
halafnama de diya ki dhancha totega nahi aur sach mein ye vidhvansh ke
peechhe Congress ka haath tha, jo sahi baat hai. Babri vidhvansh ke
peeche vastav mein jo girane ki mansha thi wo Congress ki thi Congressi
chahte the ye jhanjhat khatm ho jaaye doosra P. V. Narasimha Rao chahte
the (He (P. V. Narasimha Rao) said it is a state matter. It is the
business of the Kalyan Singh’s government. He has submitted an affidavit
saying that he would not allow the structure to be destroyed and it is
true that the demolition was the Congress’s handiwork. The Congress
leadership wanted that Babri should go. The Congress leadership wanted
that the issue should be closed for all times to come. So did P. V.
Narasimha Rao).”
Dubey’s claims give credence to the rumours doing
the rounds then that the Babri Masjid’s demolition had Rao’s tacit
support. Rao even extended monetary support to Dubey through a conduit
who is still a government employee. Says Dubey: “Wo toh mile the, hum
log gaye the. Unhone arthik sahyog kiya tha (He met us when had gone to
visit him. He extended us financial help).” Dubey reminisces of what Rao
discussed with him in that meeting: “Wahi jo baatcheet hoti hai ki kya
yojna hai humara uddeshya humne bataya. Unhone kaha toot jaana chahiye.
Humne kaha bheed hia kya hone wala hia kya ho sakta hai kyonki wo aastha
ka prateek tha isliye marne maarne par utaru the log. Humin kya hum
jaise bahut saare log aur unka sahyog liya gaya (Our discussion went
around the thing like what was our plan. I told him what our objective
was. He said it (the mosque) should be brought down. I said there is a
vast sea of people out there (nobody knows) what will happen. Since it
was the symbol of faith, people would not mind to kill. There were so
many like me, and we took his help).” This help included not only a cash
component but also implements to be used for demolition: “Tha jo swayam
toh wo dete nahi. Paise toh unhone de diye pachas hazar diye, lekin
baaki cheezein kisi madhaym se dilwain. Ab wo madhyam kaun hai ye hi
vishay toh hai na kya zaroorat hai wo aaj bhi naukri par hai (Yes, there
was a medium as he would not give it personally. He gave us Rs. 50,000,
but the rest of the things were provided by that medium. What is the
need to know who that medium is? He is still in the employntm of the
government).”
He gives the list of what was made available by this
conduit: “Unhone humein gainti uplabdh karwayi, talwarein, trishul,
fawde, penchein (He made us available things such as pick axes, swords,
tridents, spades, and screwdrivers).”
Dubey claims that a tempo
driver brought all the implements and tools required for demolition of
the Babri: “Laxman Singh ek tempo chalak tha ussi ne humo uplabdh karaya
tha. Brahmadutt Dwivedi ji ne bhijwaya tha. Uska bhi aaj tak pata nahi
chala kahan gaya wo aadmi (There was a tempo driver called Laxman Singh
who brought all the stuff. It was arranged for us by Brahmadutt Dwivedi.
We don’t know till this date where he has disappeared since then).”
Like
Dharmendra Singh Gurjar of Bajrang Dal, Dubey has only disdain for
leaders like L. K. Advani who started it all with his Rath Yatra in
1990. He says bluntly: “Jisko iss desh ka Hindu bhagwan maan raha ho jab
wo hi jhooth bolne lag jayega toh log usko shaitan manane mein bhi der
nahi karenge. Advani jhoothe aadmi hain unhone Jinnah ko Brahmin aadmi
bataya. Ganda aadmi hai kul milakar. Dhancha tudwane mein unki poori
sahmati hai kaise jageh jageh unhone jaloos nikala sabhayein ki har
jageh bolte the. Aapne toda hai ya nahi toda hai lekin aapne lalkara
toh, todne wale toh taiyar kiye (If someone who the Hindus revere as God
begins to tell a lie, it will not take long for them to trash him as a
Satan. Adavni is a liar who said Jinnah was a Brahmin. He is a dirty
fellow. He had agreed on the idea of felling the structure. It was he
who led the processions, addressed the meetings and talked about it
everywhere he went. You broke it or not, but you gave a call and
prepared people for the job).”
Who gave this slogan, “Jo Ram kaaj
mein pichda hai wo mard nahi hijda hai (Anyone who lags behind in the
work of Ram is an eunuch not a man)?” he asks.
Mahant Ram Vilas Vedanti, former BJP MP
A violent oath in the name of Ram
A violent oath in the name of Ram
The
CBI could not find any corroborative evidence of the secret meeting
held at the Hindu Dham, residence of Ram Vilas Vedanti and Vinay
Katiyar, at Ayodhya which sealed the fate of the mosque and sent the
nation reeling under large-scale rioting and arson. However, Cobrapost
has evidence of that meeting in the form of a confession from the man
who was part of the whole conspiracy. The man in question is Mahant Ram
Vilas Vedanti, who played a pivotal role in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement
since its start. Reminiscing on how the movement gained momentum after
VHP brought all Shankaracharyas under the banner of Kendriya
Margadarshak Mandal, Vedanti is proud to be part of the process that saw
the demolition of Babri on December 1992, so much so that he spills all
the beans when the Cobrapost reporter approaches him to throw light on
the events to help him get a good insight for his proposed book project
on the movement.
Vedanti candidly admits to the secret meeting that
took place in his abode the night before: “Ye hi jageh hai jahan dhancha
tootne ka nirnay hua ye hi Hindu Bhawan hai yahan Vinay Katiyar aate
the uss samay. Issi Hindu Dham mein nirnay hua dhancha tootega toda
jayega aur ye prastav main laya tha (This is the place at which the
decision to fell the structure was taken. This is the place Vinay
Katiyar would stay in those days. In this very Hindu Dham was decided
that the structure would be felled and I was the one who put this
proposal forward).” Present in this meeting were, says Vedanti, “Sabhi
log the Ritambhara thi, Ashok Singhal the, Acharya Giriraj Kishore the,
Swami Vamdev ji the, Acharya Dharmendra the, Vinay Katiyar the, ye sabhi
log the … meeting thi paanch tarikh ko (Ritambhara, Ashok Singhal,
Acharya Giriraj Kishore, Swami Vamdev, Acharya Dharmendra and Vinay
Katiyar, all these people were present … the meeting was held on
December 5).” The next day, the mosque was brought down.
Claiming
that BJP had nothing to do with this meeting, he says, “Santon ki thi
VHP mein jo log the aur sant the. Acharya Dharmendra the, Acharya
Giriraj Kishore ji the, main tha, Ashok Singhal the, Moreshwar the,
Pingle the, saare log the usmein … Swami Vamdev ji the aur bhi sant the,
Swami Parmanand ji the, saare log the (The meeting was held by the
sants and leaders of VHP. Acharya Dharmendra was there, Acharya Giriraj
Kishore was there, I was there, Ashok Singhal was there, Moreshwar was
there, Pingle was there, all these people were there in the meeting …
Swami Vamdev was there and so were other sants, Swami Parmanand was
there).”
Vedanti explains that no other organization played as big a
role as did VHP: “Nahin aur kisi ka nahi kisi ka haath nahi tha.
Dekhiye VHP maane Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh ke jo uch stariya boddhik log the wo VHP mein samjhe na … Moropant
Pingle ji ki sabse badi bhoomika thi Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ke
hain VHP ke wo uch vishist adhikar the sabse badi bhoomika Ashok Singhal
ke baad hunhi ki rahi. Acharya Giriraj Kishore, Ashok Singhal aur
Moropant Pingle teen mukhya main the (No, no other organization played
any role. You see, VHP means Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The highest
officials, the ideologues of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh are at the top
level in VHP. Do you understand? Moropant Pingle played the most
significant role. He is from Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and is the
highest official of VHP. After Ashok Singhal, his is the most
significant role. Acharya Giriraj Kishore, Ashok Singhal and Moropant
Pingle are the three main persons).”
You mean, asks the reporter,
they contributed the most in the felling of the Babri Masjid? Reaffirms
Vedanti: “Ji aur wo sab log yahan baithe the meeting mein (Yes, and they
all were sitting here in this meeting).”
It was none other than
Vedanti himself who put forth the proposal for demolition: “Prastav mera
tha. Sabse pehla samarthan … humne prastav rakha yadi dhancha tootega
toh yahan par aaye huye jo vishist netagan hain unko bhaga do isliye toh
janta aakrosh mein ho sakta hai fir hum logon par khatra ho sakta hai
jo neta log the isliye dhancha todna zaroori hai … Pingle ji the aur
humare uss prastav par Mahant Avaidyanath ne sahyog diya uske baad Ashok
Singhal ne, Moropant ne, Acharya Giriraj Kishore aur Acharya Dharmendra
saare logon ne kaha theek, theek hai Vedantiji theek (It was my
proposal and I was the first to support it … I proposed we should ask
all the important leaders to leave. The public gathered there is getting
restive and it can put us all in danger. Given the circumstances, it is
necessary to fell the structure … Pingle was present, and Mahant
Avaidyanath was the first to support my proposal. After that Ashok
Singhal, Moropant, Acharya Giriraj Kishore and Acharya Dharmendra all
said ‘What you say is right, Vedantiji’).”
Sensing the do-or-die mood
of Ram bhakts who had descended on Ayodhya in lakhs to settle the issue
once and for all, a Sankalp, or oath, was undertaken. The onerous task
of initiating the oath fell on Vedanti as every high and mighty among
the seers and sants baulked: “Humko sabhi santon ne jo sant wahan the
sabhi ne kaha ki aap Vedanti ji jaiye aur jismein Vamdevji the Mahant
Avaidyanath ji the Nritya Gopal Das ji the, Shanakarcharya ji the ye
saare lognon ne kaha Vedanti ji aap jaiye Sankalp karaiye. Jaise hi main
charha sankalp karane ko aur manch par sankalp karana shuru kiya waise
hi dhancha tootna shuru hua (All the sants present there, among them
were Vamdev, Mahant Avaidyanath, Nritya Gopal Das, Shanakarcharya, asked
me to go and conduct the oath. No sooner had I climbed the dais and
started to conduct the oath, the structure began to fall).” According to
Vedanti: “Askok Singhal ji, Ritambhara ji, Mahant Avaidyanath ji, ye
sab aur sadhu sant the saikaron sadhu mahatma the (Askok Singhal,
Ritambhara ji, Mahant Avaidyanath and all sadhus and sants were present
there).” The Sankalp read like this, says Vedanti: “Sankalp mein likha
tha aaj dinank 6 December ko hum sabhi Ram Bhakt Ram Lala ke prangan
mein yeh pratigya karte hain ki jahan par khandahar khada hai uss jageh
bhavya mandir banane ke liye iss Ram Janmabhoomi ke mandir ke khandahar
ko hatana avashyak hai isliye isko hatake bhavya mandir ka nirman karaya
jaaye iska sankalp hum log Ram Lala ko samarpit karte hain iss dhang se
tha (There was written in the oath that on this day of December 6 we
all Ram bhakts take this oath on the premises of Ram Lala that it is
necessary to remove the structure from where it stands to make a grand
temple there. It is necessary to remove the structure to make a Ram
Janmabhoomi Temple. We all take this oath for Ram Lala).”
Vendati was one of the persons who drafted this oath: “Isko taiyar karne wale the Mahant Avaidyanath ji, hum aur Ashok Singhal (It was Mahant Avaidyanath, I and Ashok Singhal who prepared the oath).”
Vendati was one of the persons who drafted this oath: “Isko taiyar karne wale the Mahant Avaidyanath ji, hum aur Ashok Singhal (It was Mahant Avaidyanath, I and Ashok Singhal who prepared the oath).”
According to Vedanti,
all such incriminating documents were destroyed for obvious reasons:
“Yahan humne kagazaat ko bahut aise kagazaat the jisko CBI ke dar ke
mare humko VHP ne kaha isko hata dijiye toh maine usko hata diya aise
kai dustavez hain kagaz hain sankalp hain kai aise prastav hain (There
were many documents of such sankalp and such proposals which VHP asked
me to remove for fear of the CBI).”
Reminisces Vedanti of the high
point in his life: “Hazaro logon ne sankalp liya … Ashok Singhal ji mere
saath the unhone sankalp liya, Mahant Avaidyanath ne sankalp liya saare
log mere saath manch par the uss samay (Thousands took the oath. Ashok
Singhal was with me who took the oath. Mahant Avaidyanath took the oath.
There were so many on the dais at that time).” Uma Bharti and
Ritambhara were also on the dais.
But most of these leaders, says the
reporter, don’t admit to what they did. Feeling challenged, Vedanti
admits: “Nahin, humne kiya. Main bata raha hoon maine kiya, maine
dhancha toda aur tudwaya aur jab maine sankalp karaya toh sankalp ke
samay jo log the sankalp kiya aur baad mein dhancha tootna prarambh hua
(No, we did it. I am telling you I did it. I felled the structure and
got it felled. When I conducted the oath, whosoever was there took the
oath. After that the structure began to be felled).”
It was not possible without Ashok Singhal. Avers Vedanti: “Ashok Singhal ki bahut badi bhoomika hai Ashok Singhal na hote toh dhancha kaise tootata (Ashok Singhal played a big role. How the structure could have been felled without Ashok Singhal)?” So, who planned it all? “Ashok Singhal, Moropant Pingle, Acharya Giriraj Kishore, ye teen pramukch the … main saara sabhi log mere paas hi rehte the mandir mein aur yahan do bhag the saara VHP yahin rehta tha (Ashok Singhal, Moropant Pingle, Acharya Giriraj Kishore and I. All these people used to stay with me at the temple and there were two parts. All the VHP leadership stayed there).”
It was not possible without Ashok Singhal. Avers Vedanti: “Ashok Singhal ki bahut badi bhoomika hai Ashok Singhal na hote toh dhancha kaise tootata (Ashok Singhal played a big role. How the structure could have been felled without Ashok Singhal)?” So, who planned it all? “Ashok Singhal, Moropant Pingle, Acharya Giriraj Kishore, ye teen pramukch the … main saara sabhi log mere paas hi rehte the mandir mein aur yahan do bhag the saara VHP yahin rehta tha (Ashok Singhal, Moropant Pingle, Acharya Giriraj Kishore and I. All these people used to stay with me at the temple and there were two parts. All the VHP leadership stayed there).”
Vedanti
is never restrained in his averments as he claims to have instigated
the karsevaks with incendiary slogans: “Advani tab aaye jab dhancha
tootna shuru ho gaya. Advani ne, Joshi ne, Vijayaraji Scindia ne Rajmata
ek hi, teeno logon ne mana kar diya tha ki aap utar aiye utar aiye
lekin iske baad main loudspeaker lekar kehta raha ‘Ram naam satya hai
aur khandahar dwast hai’ kai nara lagaya (Advani entered the scene when
the structure had already begun falling. Advani, (Murli Manohar) Joshi,
Rajmata Vijyaraje Scindia all began pleading (asking the karsevaks) to
climb down. But then I took the loudspeaker and began exhorting them
with the slogan ‘Ram naam satya hai aur khandahar dwast hai’).”
In
his second interview with Ashish, Vedanti not only reiterated all what
he had already said but also made some more startling revelations.
After
a date for karseva, December 6, was announced in Delhi, says Vedanti:
“Ussi ki baithak fir Ayodhya mein issi Hindu Dham mein huyi jismein
Ashok Singhal ji, Acharya Giriraj Kishore ji, Moropant Pingle, Mahant
Avaidyanath ji, Nritya Gopal Das ji, Paramhans ji, Shankaracharya … ke
Shankaracharya, Acharya Dharmendra, Acharya Giriraj Kishore, main tha
Ashok Singhal ji the Nritya Gopal Das ji the, Paramhansji the, Vinay
Katiyar the, Moropant Pingle to bata hi diya in saare logon ne issi
Hindu Dham mein baith kar nirnay liya ki chhe December ko mandir nirman
ki karseva karenge aur awashaykta padti hai toh uss khandahar ko jo
jeern-sheern awastha mein khara hua hai usko todenge lekin jan samanya
ko yeh nahi bataya gaya tha ki dhancha todne ka bhi karyakram bana tha
(In that pursuit, another meeting was held at Ayodhya in this very Hindu
Dham that was attended by Ashok Singhal, Acharya Giriraj Kishore,
Moropant Pingle, Mahant Avaidyanath, Nritya Gopal Das, Paramhans (Ram
Chandra Das), Shankaracharya, Acharya Dharmendra, me and Vinay Katiyar …
all these people decided to conduct a karseva on December 6 to build
the temple and if need arose the dilapdidated structure standing there
would be felled … but the ordinary folks gathered there were not told
this).”
A workplan had already been chalked out to carry out this diabolical design and all the tools had been procured well in advance.
Claims
Vedanti: “Dekhiye aisa hai karyayojna toh humne bana liya tha pehle hi
pehle se karyayojna banakar ki kaise dhancha toda jayega uske auzar hain
wo sab Ram Katha Kunj tha ussi mein rakh diye gaye. Ram Katha Kunj mein
saare auzar rakhe huye the aur jab ye aarambh hua toh usko koi nahi rok
sakta iski jaankari humko ho gayi toh fir jo auzar rakhe gaye the todne
ke kiye sabbal, fawda hai aur tamam cheezein hain ye rassiyan wagaireh
sab wahan bhej diye gaye (You see, the workplan to demolish the
structure had already been put in place. All the tools required for this
had been kept safe at the Ram Katha Kunj. We knew when it begins nobody
could stop it, so we sent sabbals, spades, ropes and other tools
there).”
Even then Chief Minister Kalyan Singh had already been
apprised of what was going to happen on December 6. Vedanti claims thus:
“Paanch December ki raat ko hi Kalyan Singh ke paas samachar bhej diya
gaya tha aur sumein ye kaha gaya tha ki yadi awashayakta padti hai toh
dhancha bhi tod diya jayega aapko kya bhoomika nirwah karni hai vichar
kar lijye (On the night of December 5 itself Kalyan Singh was informed
of it and he was told that if need be the structure would be felled.
Now, you decide what you have to do).”
Most of the hardliners,
according to Vedanti, wanted the structure to go, but there were some
elements who did not wish that to happen, and it was BJP: “Bhajapa (BJP)
ka kehna tha ki dhancha toot jayega toh mudda samapt ho jayega isliye
dhancha na toda jaye … samjhe na isliye jab dhancha tootna shuru hua
dhancha tootne ke samachar sunane ke baad Advani ji Joshi ji Vijeraje
aur Uma Bharti ji ye saare log the Janki Mahal mein inko roka gaya tha
wo sab dhancha tootne ka samachar sunane ke baad manch par pahunche (BJP
was of the opinion that if the structure goes, the issue will die. Do
you understand? So, Advani, Joshi, Vijayraje and Uma Bharti had been
confined to Janki Mahal and they came to the dais (of Ram Katha Manch)
only when they came to know that the structure is being razed).”
Although
Kalyan Singh knew, he failed to act and what Vedanti says establishes
his complicity in the crime beyond doubt: “Nahi Kalyan Singh ne kuch
nahi kiya jab dhancha tootna shuru hua toh Kalyan Singh ne kisi ko rokne
ki baat nahi ki (No, Kalyan Singh did nothing. When the structure began
to be felled, he did not ask anybody to stop it).”
Now, Vedanti
throws a bombshell when he says that on Decmber 6, “… Narasimha Rao se
subah chhe baje meri baat huyi … chhe baje Narasimha Rao ka phone ayaa …
kyonki dancha tootne se pandrah din pehle Narasimha Rao ne mujhko
bulaya aur kaha Vednati ji kya hoga … subah chhe baje phone aaya toh
kaha kya nirnay liya aap logon ne … dancha toh Narasimha Rao ne kaha
toot jana chahiye poora (I spoke to Narasimha Rao at 6 in the morning …
Narasimha Rao phoned me at 6 a.m. … 15 days before the structure was
felled Narasimha Rao had called me for a meeting and had asked me,
‘Vedantiji, what will happen?’ … he asked me what we had decided about
the structure, then he said it should be felled completely).” Vedanti
informed him of it at 1 a.m. in the night after they made a clean job of
the Babri Masjid and had installed Ram Lala in a makeshift temple where
once stood the disputed structure.
Ramji Gupta, then caretaker of the Ram Janmabhoomi, 1992
Operation Janambhoomi, the secret of secrets
Operation Janambhoomi, the secret of secrets
The
police, the CB-CID, and the CBI never came to know about it, so
well-guarded the secret plan was which only the top brass of the RSS and
VHP knew. It was given a codename, Operation Janmabhoomi. Headed by
Ashok Singhal, the plan was executed with precision of a covert military
operation, leaving no tell-tale signs. To put the plan into operation
an army consisting of 1,200 RSS cadres was formed. This formation was
given the name Laxman Sena with a war cry of Jai Sheshavatar. The man
who executed the plan and who headed the army was none other that Ramji
Gupta, who was supervisor of the Ram Katha Kunj.
On that fateful day
seated on Ram Katha Manch were about 100 people, including top leaders
of all Hindu outfits who oversaw the demolition of Babri Masjid.
According to Ramji: “Haan manch par jo the wahan manch ki vyavastha bhi
humari thi toh wahan par jaise Vihip mein Uma Bhartiji, Dharmendra
Acharya ji aur Sakshi ji Mahapandit Vidya Mandir ke aur Ritambhara,
Ashok ji … haan … nani Champat Rai ji, Shambhunath ji, aur BJP ke Murli
Manohar Joshi ji, Advani ji aise saare log toh the hi aur Dr. Durg Singh
Chauhan ji … Bajrang Dal ke Vinay Katyar toh the hi (Yes, it was my
duty to look after the arrangements on the Manch. Seated there were Uma
Bharti and Acharya Dharmendra from VHP, Sakshi and Ritambhara, Ashok
(Singhal), yes, Champat Rai, Shambhu Nath, Murli Manohar Joshi and
Advani from BJP, then there was Dr. Durg Singh Chauhan … Vinay Katiyar
of Bajrang Dal was also there).”
Then, according to him: “Ussi samay
tatkal jo hai Laxman Sena ka gathan hua aur uska rashtriya pramukh main
hi raha … aur uska jo hai Jai Sheershavatar tha Laxman Sena ka Jai
Sheshavatar nara tha aur vyasthit karne ke liye ye tatkal ji hai
vyavasth de gayi (That very moment Laxman Sena was formed and I was its
national head. Its slogan was ‘Jai Sheershavatar’. It was formed to put
everything in order).” The army was formed a day before the Babri Masjid
was felled.
And who were recruited in this army? Here is what Gupta
tells: “Aur har pradesh se jo hain aise chuninde 80-100 karsevak liye
gaye bilkul har Pradesh ke pratyek pradesh tha usmein aur sabko control
karne ke liye ye lagbhag 1,200 ki sankhya thi aur inko taiyar kiya gaya
ki kahin avyavastha hoti hai toh aap vayavastha karein (From every state
80–100 karsevaks were selected and this number was about 1,200, who
were deputed to control the crowds and were readied to bring everything
in order).”
Dressed in RSS fatigues, these trained cadres were
deputed within the Ram Janmabhoomi premises, which in other words, was
Babri Masjid. Says Gupta: “… fir jo humare cader hain RSS ke wo agar aap
jante honge toh pratham varsh, dvitiya varsh, tritaya varsh in logon ka
prashikshan hota hai ek mahine ka toh aise jo karyakarta the aise jo
swayamsevak the unko Janmabhoomi parisar ke andar hum logon ne nicker
vesh mein gan mein khada kar kiya (… then our RSS cadres of first year,
second year and third year, if you know, who receive a month-long
training (in RSS shakhas), such activists, such volunteers were
arraigned in a formation within the Ramjanmabhooomi premises).” They
were asked to maintain order, says Gupta.
But the real objective of
this band of 1,200-strong RSS cadres was not as harmless as it may
sound. What Gupta tells leaves nothing to imagination when he recounts
the events of the day before: “Aisa hai ki sabhi pradeshon ke usmein
karyakrta log the ye samjhiye ki 18 saal se leklar ke aur 30 saal ke
beech mein aise jawan the usmein sab aur jo hai 50-50 ki toliyan bani
thi sabka alag-alag vibhag tay hua tha aap pani pliayenge … aap rassa le
jayenge … aap geinta ke jayenge aap fawda le jayenge aap hammer le
jayenge sabki alag alag vyavastha thi. 50 logon ki 24 toliyan thi matlab
1,200 ho gayi sankhya (There were young workers from every state, aged
between 18 and 30 years. We formed 50 groups. Every group was given a
department; for instance, you will give water, you will carry ropes, you
will carry pick axes, you will carry spades, you will carry hammers.
There were 50 groups of 24 workers each, which took their number to
1,200).”
The plan was not to initiate but hit the hammer when the
karsevaks refused to obey the orders of the leaders to not harm the
structure. They all had determined to wash the blot of from the nation.
Says Gupta: “Kalank toh tha hi ye, lekin hum pehle nahi jayenge … jab
kar sevak jo hain ko rokenge karsevak nahi toh uske baad hum karsevakon
ki madad karenge (Yes, it was a blot, but (we had decided) not to go
there first. We will try to stop the karsevaks but then the karsevaks
would not relent, we will simply join them).” The war cry of Laxman Sena
was Jai Sheshavatar, and Gupta had to repeat the slogan thrice to drop
the signal: “Wo toh khali teen baar humko bolna tha bas (I simply had to
raise that (slogan) thrice only).”
When the frenzied crowds of
karsvaks surged towards the mosque hellbent to fell it, the police force
stationed there beat a hasty retreat. The job could have done in 1991,
says Gupta: “Saari force hat gayi thi aapke paas agar auzar hote uss
samay 91wein mein hi girwa sakte the aap. Gir jaata aur rahi kamiyan iss
baar poora kiya (The police force had retreated. If you were equipped
with all the tools, you could have felled it in 1991 itself. Anyway, we
left nothing to chance this time around).”
The force returned at
midnight after the Babri had been razed, and the place had been cleared
of all its rubble with Ram Lala was installed in a makeshift temple.
Only
five people were privy to this plan. Says Gupta: “Paanch log hi shayad
jaante the chathwan vyakti koin nahi tha … aisa tha ki jaanane ka matlab
kuchh nahi ho pata (Perhaps, only five persons knew of this plan. If
there were a sixth person knowing about it, we would not have been able
to execute it).” Among these select five were, as reveals Gupta: “Durg
Singh Chauhan ji the aur Shambhu Nath ji the aise hi ismein ek naam
Champat Rai ji ka hai … ek retired brigadier the aur architect the (Durg
Singh Chauhan, Shambhu Nath, Champat Rai, a retired brigadier and an
architect).”
Vinay Katiyar also knew of it, says Gupta: “Katiyar ji
toh yahan ke neta hain hi Ayodhya ke Ayodhya ke neta hain hi lekin ye
sab vyavastha ke baare mein unko bhi pata tha (Katiyar is the leader of
Ayodhya but he also knew of these arrangements).”
Pawan Pandey, former Shiv Sena MLA
Shiv Sena’s conspiracy in the Babri war
Shiv Sena’s conspiracy in the Babri war
Beginning
with Hindu Suraksha Samiti in 1986, Pawan Pandey had the opportunity to
rub shoulders with the stalwarts of Ram Janmabhoomi movement such as
Ram Chandra Paramhans, Nitya Gopal Das and Ram Vilas Vedanti. A year
later he joined Shiv Sena, became a legislator after winning elections
riding the wave after the police firing on karsevaks in Ayodhya in 1990.
No longer with Shiv Sena, Pandey has served a term in jail and is
facing a myriad of court cases.
Telling the Cobrapost reporter he
would share all required information, Pandey strikes a note of caution:
“Aap bahut zyada mat likhiyega ki humari rajneeti chaupat ho jaye (Don’t
write too much, otherwise it will ruin my political career).” Pandey
makes more revelations which are more shocking, confirming what his
fellow Shiv Sainik Goel claims about the conspiracy to bring down the
mosque with dynamite. The outfit had planned to destroy the structure in
1990 itself after police firing on karsevaks leading to death of
Kothari brothers.
Look at what Pandey claims: “Dubara karsevakon ki
ranneeti bani toh hum log zid par ade the. Hum, Suresh Baghel aur tamam
log. Usmein Suresh Baghel ko dynamite dekar ke Babri Masjid udane ke
liye koshish hui 90 mein aur BJP ki sarkar aane ke bawajood Suresh
Baghel jail mein tha jo Mathura mein hai. Humara saathi tha jaat ka
badhai tha. 28 dynamite ke saath pakda gaya tha. Usko saza ho gayi
paanch saal ki Faizabad court se (When the karsevaks began to discuss
their strategy again, I, Suresh Baghel, and many others were adamant.
Suresh Baghel tried to demolish Babri Masjid with dynamite in 1990 and
he was jailed without respite even after BJP came to power. He was our
companion and was a carpenter by caste. He was caught there with a cache
of 28 dynamite sticks. He was awarded a five-year sentence by a
Faizabad court).”
Pandey says 450 karsevaks were given training in
camps at Morena and Bhind bordering Uttar Pradesh, which included
climbing up the hills with ropes as they would have to climb the domes
of the mosque, and the use of tools such as pick axes. Says Pawan about
the leaders who conducted these training sessions: “Usmein Jai Bhagwal
Goel the Delhi ke aur ek Madan Lal Chadda Ghaziabad jinhone wahan
vayavastha diya tha, Mahesh Ahuja the aur Anand Digheji uss samay
Maharashtra se aaye the training dilwane ke liye (There was Jai Bhagwal
Goel from Delhi, there was Madan Lal Chadda from Ghaziabad who had made
arrangements for the training, there was Mahesh Ahuja and Anand Dighe
had come down from Maharashtra to impart training).” Anand Dighe, a
well-known Shiv Sena leader from Thane, who led these training sessions.
The karsevaks were trained in the use of tear gas as well.
Pandey
claims that a video of the training was given to Newstrack, a TV news
programme produced by the India Today Group and telecast on Doordarshan.
But it never saw light of the day.
Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray was very much part of the whole conspiracy as Pandey goes on to make another revelation implicating the Thackerays when the Cobrapost reporter asks him if the supremo knew about all these developments: “Haan haan kyon nahi thi. Uss samay Raj Thakeray bhi aya tha Banaras aur hum logon ki kai baar hui meeting. Press aur media se lagi bhi thi. Hum logon ne ye bayan diya tha ki 18 November tak hum apne karsevak ikkattha karenge aur dhanche ko girayenge (Yes he did. Raj Thackeray also visited Banaras and we had many meetings. The media also covered it. We had issued a statement saying that we will gather karsevaks by November 18 and demolish the structure).”
Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray was very much part of the whole conspiracy as Pandey goes on to make another revelation implicating the Thackerays when the Cobrapost reporter asks him if the supremo knew about all these developments: “Haan haan kyon nahi thi. Uss samay Raj Thakeray bhi aya tha Banaras aur hum logon ki kai baar hui meeting. Press aur media se lagi bhi thi. Hum logon ne ye bayan diya tha ki 18 November tak hum apne karsevak ikkattha karenge aur dhanche ko girayenge (Yes he did. Raj Thackeray also visited Banaras and we had many meetings. The media also covered it. We had issued a statement saying that we will gather karsevaks by November 18 and demolish the structure).”
Talking of the role of
other important leaders of Shiv Sena, such as Moreshwar Save, Pandey
claims: “Poora role tha humare neta the wo sab jageh saare maukon par,
girte samay bhi the (He played an important role. He was after all our
leader. We would see him everywhere, on every occasion, even when the
structure crumbled).” A co-accused in the case, Save helped with money
to run the training camps. “Save ne kuch madad nahi ki sirf political
aur arhtik madad ki. Uss samay khane-peene ke liye hum 65–70 hazar
rupaya humko diya gaya tha wo logon ki khane peene ki vyavastha karne ke
liye (Save didn’t help much. He helped us politically and financially.
He gave us Rs. 65,000–70,000 to arrange food for the trainees),” says
Pandey.
Pandey claims to have met Balasaheb Thackeray dozen times in
those days. He says: “Hum unke nirdesh par kaam kiye hain (I worked
under his directions).”
Giving logistical help to Shiv Sena and
participating in the demolition of the mosque was a small band called
Pratap Sena. Rejecting the suggestion that Bajrang Dal, VHP, or RSS had
played a leading role in the demolition, Pandey says: “Ye netratva
visheshkar Shiv Sena aur Pratap Sena jo Fatehfur ki chhoti tukdi thi jo
kaale kapde mein the aur baaki janmanas tha (Especially, it was Shiv
Sena and a small band of Pratap Sena from Fatehpur, wearing black
clothes, which led from the front, and the rest was the large mass of
people gathered there).”
In the thick of action on that day, Pandey
saw the domes of the mosque crumbling and saw the heavy stone plaque
erected by Mir Baqi, declaring the establishment of the Babri, fall
apart in three pieces.
He took away two as memento which are still in
his possession. Pandey proudly says: “Wo toh abhi humare paas hi hai. Do
hissa humare paas hai ek hissa jama hai (This is still with me. Two
pieces are with me while the other is with the authorities).” Pandey now
wants to put these relics under the hammer to make some quick bucks.
It
was Ram Chandra Paramhans who exhorted the sea of karsevaks to destroy
the mosque. “Hum logon se Ram Chandra Paramhans ne kaha todo, tod diya
(Ram Chandra Paramhans told us to tear it down, we did that).”
Jai Bhagwan Goel, former President of Shiv Sena, North India
The saffron brigade’s aggressive Tughlak ideology
The saffron brigade’s aggressive Tughlak ideology
While
most of the Hindu outfits, including the BJP, shied away from taking
responsibility, it was Shiv Sena supremo Late Balasaheb Thackeray who
took credit for razing the 16th century mosque to the ground. It was
neither false bravado nor bragging. In fact, the outfit had planned to
bring down the structure in its own style, and heading the demolition
squad consisting of Shiv Sainiks was none other than Jai Bhagwan Goel,
then leader of Shiv Sena from North India. The interview that Goel had
with Cobrapost Associate Editor K. Ashish bears testimony to this fact.
Critical
of the soft approach that BJP leadership had toward the issue, Goel
says that although the Ram Janmabhoomi movement was spearheaded by
Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Shiv Sena had its own agenda. Says Goel: “Hum
log thoda bahut Tughlak vichardhara ke hain. Akramak hain humara kaam
karne ka style. Toh hum chahte the ki wo toote, tootega tabhi mandir
banega. Toh jab inhone VHP ke BJP logon ne nara diya tha ‘Lathi goli
khayenge, mandir wahin banayenge’ toh humne nara badal diya wahin ‘Lathi
goli marenge, mandir wahin banayenge’ (We somewhat follow the Tughlak
ideology. Our style of functioning is aggressive. We wanted to demolish
the structure. A temple could be built there only when we will have
demolished it. So, when the VHP and BJP people gave the slogan ‘We will
brave the rain of lathis and bullets/we will build the temple there
only,’ we changed the slogan then and there to ‘We will spray lathis and
bullets/we will build the temple there only).” Goel and his band of
Shiv Sainiks were there both in 1990, when scores of karsevaks died in
police firing, and in 1992 when the mosque was brought down on December
6. It was befitting to demolish the structure to avenge the killing of
karsevaks. Simmering with anger, the Shiv Sena was making its own
preparations.
Reminiscing the scene of those killings, Goel says: “Jo
drishya tha wo ghoomte rehta tha kaise kaise log maare gaye dimag mein
humare. Kisi tareeke se uska badla humne lena hai aur Ram Janmabhoomi ka
uddhar hona hai. Iske liye lage rahe hum kafi samay tak. Chhe December
ko humne kiya humari bhoomika thi, humne swikar kiya uss waqt jab koi
swikar nahi kar raha tha sabse pehle humne swikar kiya tha humne kaha
yes dhancha widhvansh humne kiya hai (That scene of the killing of
people would play in our minds. We had to avenge the killings anyhow and
emancipate the Ram Janmabhoomi. We were making preparations for quite
some time for that. We did it on December 6. We played a role in it. We
were the first to accept it when nobody was willing to accept it. We
said ‘yes we demolished the structure’).”
When Goel and his band of
Shiv Sainiks reached Ayodhya on December 5, there was this talk of
symbolic karseva in which the karsevaks were supposed to throw a handful
of sand and sprinkle some holy water on the Ram Chabutara. For the
thousands of karsevaks congregating there, it was no karseva at all.
According to Goel, everybody, particularly the youth, was enraged at
this suggestion as they felt they were being made a fool. Goel claims he
incited the crowds by sloganeering: “Humne ussi waqt logon ki bhawanaon
ko dekhkar mahaul garam kar diya kaha ‘Bahaw ko mod denge aur dhanche
ko tod denge (Sensing the feelings of the people gathered there, I
charged the atmosphere shouting ‘We will turn the tide and will bring
down the structure’).” He reiterates to correct himself: “Humen kaha
‘Ganga ki dhar ko mod denge aur dhanche ko tod denge’ ye humara udghosh
tha uss waqt (‘We will turn the currents of the Ganges and will destroy
the structure’ was my clarion call to them at that point of time).”
To
accomplish their part of Operation Janmabhoomi, the Siv Sainiks were
equipped with hammers, spades, shovels, pickaxes, sabbals and long
sturdy ropes, which according to Goel, were provided by the locals of
Ayodhya. “Ayodhya mein … Ayodhya mein sab saman pahunch rakha tha pehle
se jo humare log the Ayodhyavasi the unhone prabandh kiya (All the
equipment had arrived in Ayodhya. It was provided by our local
members).”
In November end, a meeting at North Avenue in Delhi was
held by the Shiv Sena in which all top leaders like Satish Pradhan,
Moreswar Save, Pawan Pandey and Goel were present among many others:
“Meeting mein kaafi log the matlab uch Shiv Sena ke pradhan the aur main
Pramukh ke naate main tha, Pawan Pandey kaafi North India ke log the
(There were many in the meeting. I mean top leaders of Shiv Sena like
(Satish) Pradhan. I was there as head and then there were Pawan Pandey
and many others from North India).”
According to Goel, it was
unanimously resolved to destroy the mosque on December 6: “Haan decide
ye hi hua tha usmein dhancha tootna hai uske liye chahe humein kuch bhi
karna pade hum karenge dhanche ko bakhshenge nahi. Chhe December ko
karseva hogi Shiv Sena style mein hogi (Yes, it was decided in the
meeting that the structure has to go. We will do everything to achieve
that. We will not spare the structure. There will be karseva on December
6 and the karseva will be conducted in Shiv Sena style).”
The
ultra-Hindu outfit made its intention clear before the media, first in
Delhi and then in Ayodhya a day before the structure was demolished.
The
operation was remote-controlled by Balasaheb Thackeray who also wanted
the structure to go. Says Goel: “Thackeray sahib ka tha ki tootna hai
(Thackeray sahib was of the opinion that the structure should be brought
down).” There were scores of meetings with Thackeray on this issue.
“Sau baar pachas baar roz meeting hoti thi unke saath (Hundred times,
fifty times. We had meetings with him almost daily).” Reporting the
developments to Thackeray, Moreshwar Save and Goel were leading the Shiv
Sena operations with designs no less sinister. As part of preparation
for the operation, the Sainiks underwent training in various camps set
up at Morena and Bhind to equip them with skills of scaling the tombs
and doing the spadework. Goel too attended such five camps. In his own
words: “Haan camp laga tha taiyari ki thi logon ne kaise todna hai kaise
charhna hai wo kiya tha (Yes, training camps were organized. People had
learned how to break the structure and how to climb it).”
If all
methods failed, Shiv Sena had an explosive solution. Listen to what Goel
claims: “Humare paas dynamite bhi tha hum dynamite bhi lekar gaye the
wahan par agar zaroorat padti usko bhi chala dete iss taiyari se gaye
the hum (We were carrying dynamite there. If need arose, we had gone
fully prepared to use it).” Had you deputed someone for the task? Goel
reiterates: “Na, na main keh raha hoon na jo humare paas dynamite tha
agar wo dhancha na tootata toh hum usko dynamite lagakar tod dete iss
taiyari se hum log gaye the (No, no. I am telling you that we had gone
there prepared to the extent that if the structure did not cave in, we
would bring it down by planting dynamite we had carried there).”
Goel’s assertions find an echo in the interview that his fellow Shiv Sainik Pawan Pandey had with Cobrapost.
B. L. Sharma alias Prem, two-time MP, BJP
A Hindu zealot spills the 1992 beans
A Hindu zealot spills the 1992 beans
Still
going strong at 84, the two-time member of Parliament, B. L. Sharma
alias Prem comes across a fire-spitting, venom-spewing ultra-Hindu
nationalist who does not mince words while questioning the loyalty of
Indian Muslims. Defining who is a true Hindu, he says: “Jo iss desh ko
matribhoomi, pitrabhoomi, punyabhoomi manta hai wo Hindu hai … jaise
paida sab ho jaate hain wo matribhoomi hai … pitrabhommi matribhoomi ke
samaan hai. Yahan jhamela kis baat ka hai punyabhoomi nahi maante.
Musslaman kehte hain matribhoomi toh hai humari lekin humari aastha
Mecca mein hai (Anybody who takes this country as his motherland,
fatherland and holyland is a Hindu. Suppose when you take birth, this
country automatically becomes your motherland. Motherland and fatherland
are the same. The problem with them (Muslims) is that they don’t
consider this country as their holyland. Muslims say they take this
country as their motherland but their faith lies in Mecca).”
This
sets the tone and tenor of the interview that Cobrapost reporter K.
Ashish had with B.L. Sharma who has now converted to become a Khalsa,
and we get a peek into the mind of this Hindu zealot who played an
important role in the demolition of Babri Masjid. Sharma, who now likes
to call himself Sher (a lion), says he is fortunate to have been at
Ayodhya on all three occasions: First when the statue of Ram Lala (Lord
Ram) was instated at the disputed site in the wee hours of December 15,
1949, then in 1990 when thousands of karsevaks had gathered in Ayodhya
to accomplish the mission but failed when the Mulayam Singh government
ordered firing resulting in killings of karsevaks, and finally in 1992
when “Mission Janmabhoomi” was accomplished with the razing of the
mosque and the reinstating of statues of Ram Lala, his consort Sita,
brother Laxman and devotee Hanuman in a makeshift temple at the site.
Look
at the claim, this Hindu-zealot-turned-Khalsa is making before the
camera: “Ayodhya ki baat sun le main 15 December 1949 ko Military Police
mein tha, Ayodhya mein hi tha mere 13 logon ka main warrant officer
tha. Hum logon ko jab moortiyan sthapit hui main wahin the Thakur Guru
Dutt Singh ji the aur Nayyar sahib the theek hai inhone sahyog diya
humara jab kabhi hum Faizabad mein humari unit thi bacche Muktar Ghat
par (Now, listen to what happened in Ayodhya on December 15, 1949. I was
then with Military Police and was posted at Ayodhya. I was Warrant
Officer of a unit of 13 military personnel there. Posted there was
Thakur Guru Dutta Singh and Nayyar. They helped install the statues. Our
unit was stationed at the Muktar Ghat in Ayodhya).”
Although the
chronology of events Sharma claims to have been witness to is not exact,
his memory has not failed him, for the two officials K. K. Nayyar and
Guru Dutt Singh were, respectively, district magistrate and city
magistrate of Faizabad who wrote the script of this fraud, collaborating
with priests Ram Chandra Das, born Chandreshwar Tiwari in Bihar, and
Dharam Das. Three years later, Nayyar took voluntary retirement to join
Jan Sangh and became an MP in 1967.
Sharma still has a vivid memory
of that momentous occasion which in a matter of few decades down the
line would change the course of history of modern India, irreconcilably
dividing the country on communal lines. He savours telling the tale
every bit: “Tab main Faizabad mein tha. Toh humare yahan jo ye baba hain
na darhi wale jinka dehant ho gaya … nahi nahi doosre … Ram Chandra
Paramhans wo humare unit mein aate the toh fauzi baba kehlate the … toh
moorti sthapit hui … toh 6 December ko maine dekha manch par hi the (I
was then posted at Faizabad. This bearded Baba would visit us there, he
is now dead … no, no I am talking of some other … Ram Chandra Paramhans.
He would visit our unit and we would call him Fauzi Baba … so, this is
how the statues were installed … he was there on the dais on December 6
as well (1992)).”
We get a confirmation of this fact again as Sharma
continues to gloat over the events of that fateful day. While denying
the act of demolition was preplanned, he claims he was much as complicit
in inciting the frenzied mob that had climbed on the domes of the
mosque to bring it down: “Ye galat hai ki ye poorvaniyojit tha. Baat toh
ye hui thi ki ye kya kehte hain usko ek symobilc karseva hogi.
Karyakarta nahi maan rahe the. Yahan se paach hazar karyakarta lekar
gaye the laga ki kum honge. Toh Sudarshan ki baat kisi ne nahi maani wo
manch par kehte rahe utro na utro. Fir kya hua paanch baje ke aas-paas
hi Advani ji ne kaha ki BL ji jao un karsevakon ko neeche utaro. Maine
kaha main toh nahi jaata mujhe saare log jaante hain haathapai ho jayegi
ki nahi samjhe bache. Maine kaha Uma Bharti ko saath mein bhejo wo mere
saath gai. Wo keh rahi thi neeche utro neeche main keh rah tha karseva
neeche se karo kya … baat samajh gaye meri (This is wrong to say that
this was all preplanned. It was decided that a symbolic karseva will be
carried out. But the activists were not willing to buy it. I too had
taken along with me a group of 5,000 karsevaks there which I thought
would be insignificant. Nobody listened to Sudarshan who was asking them
from the dais to get down. Then, at about 5 o’clock (Lal Krishna)
Advani said to me, ‘BL ji go there and ask those karsevaks to climb
down. I said, ‘No I will not go. Everybody knows me and if I go, they
will not shy away from beating me. You understand, child (to the
reporter). I said send along Uma Bharti. She went there along with me.
She was asking the karsevaks to climb down, whereas I was asking them to
perform karseva from below. Do you understand what I mean).”
This is
how he exhorted the karsevaks: “Maine kaha Hindustan mein nahi banega
Ram ka mandir Mecca mein banega. Wo bache utar kar neeche aaye tab tak
mamla fit … bas Hindustan ka kalank wo laga hua dhul gaya (I said if not
in Hindustan, then should a temple for Ram be built in Mecca. When
those children climbed down, the matter had already been made fit … the
blot on Hindustan had been washed clean).”
In other words, the
message was not lost on the frenzied mob of karsevaks and the mosque was
brought down. As the mosque was being razed to dust, one of the
activists brought the seat of Lord Rama and tried to hand it over to L.
K. Advani who instead asked him to give it to Sharma. Then, local MLA
came rushing to Advani to hand over statues of Ram and other gods.
Advani again directed him to Sharma who happily kept them all in his
safe custody till the authorities sought them back that night.
Sharma
has only disdain for politicians like Advani, once hailed as Loh Purush
for his strident pro-Hindu stance and the Rath Yatra he conducted to
rally all Hindus around the issue of Ram Janmabhoomi. But when the pride
moment came, he simply capitulated to cry before the nation and the
world to see. Sharma does not mince words when he expresses this
disdain: “Rajnitigyon ki voton ke karan pindliyan kaampti hain. Sabse
napunsak aadmi rajneta hota hai (Politicians tremble for (losing) votes.
If there is any coward amongst us, it has to be the politician).” Of
Advani, Sharma has this to say: “Wo roye hain ye galat hua hai sabse
kala din. Manch par hi roye hain … unka rang peela hua tha daant bahar
aa rahe the duniya kya kehti hai. Maine toh sabse pehle mere se bhi
neeche wale ne poocha tha aapki kya pratikriya hai, maine kaha sabse
sansar mein mere liye harsh ka din hai ye humare hriday par 1217 se 1528
se laga hua kalank aaj dhul gaya (He (Advani) cried saying ‘what
happened was wrong, (it is) the blackest day.’ He wept there on that
dais itself. What the world will say? Someone asked about my reaction. I
said this is the happiest day of my life. The blot that has remained
etched deep on our conscience since 1217, since 1528 has been washed
away, finally, today).” This was on the night of December 6, 1992.
From
where did all these statues come? asks the Cobrapost reporter. Replies
Sharma: “Wo kya bolte hain Babri dhanche ke neeche (What they say is
from the Babri structure).” Were they found? asks the reporter again.
What Sharma says is revealing: “Nahi thi na wahan. Jab pooja hoti thi
main aur captain wahan jaate the dhikkarte the apne aap ko (No, they
were never there. When the pooja was held there, I and the captain (of
our unit) would go and would curse ourselves to no end).”
Unwittingly,
Sharma lets the truth, again, that appearance of the statues of Ram Lala
and his family was not the handiwork of some divine force. How these
statues were planted in the mosque, Sharma makes it clear in another
interview with the Cobrapost reporter, when he proudly declares: “90
mein bhi gaya tha main toh 6 December ko. Moortiyan sthapit hui tab bhi
wahin tha 15 December 1949 ko (I had gone there (Ayodhya) in 1990, I was
there on December 6 (1992) and I was there when statues were installed
(in the mosque) on December 15, 1949).” In fact, it was the handiwork of
Ram Chandra Paramhans, and complicit in this fraud were then District
Magistrate and another high-ranking official of the local
administration: “… Thakur Guru Dutt Singh the wahan ke zila kya bolte
hain usse district magistrate aur Nayyar sahib nahi Nair wo bhi kuch
pata nahi kuch bade adhikari toh Mahant Ram Chandra Dasji ye Fauzi Baba
mane jaate the wo humari unit mein bhi aate the har Sunday toh unhone
humse contact kiya ki falan din mera khyal hai 15 December hoga aise
aise Ram Lala virajman hone hain toh kul milakar Ram Lala virajman ho
gaye (There was this Guru Dutt Singh who was then district magistrate
and there was another official called Nair sahib, I don’t know exactly,
but he was a big official. There was this Mahant Ram Chandra Das. He was
also known as Fauzi Baba and used to visit our unit every Sunday. He
contacted us. He said Ram Lala will appear on that particular day, it
was perhaps December 15, and asked us to bring along some friends. This
is how Ram Lala appeared there).”
When the Cobrapost reporter asks
him how they came to know that Ram Lala will appear there, Sharma
retorts: “Arre ji kahe ke prakat hone wale … prakat kiya hai (How would
he (Ram Lala) appear? He was made to appear).” It was the handiwork of
the head priest: “Wo toh maharaji ka kaam tha na Ram Chandra Paramhans
(It was the handiwork of Maharaj Ram Chandra Paramhans).”
Even after
two decades, the events of the day of December 6, 1992, and night are
firmly etched in his memory. According to him, a galaxy of Sangh
Brotherhood leaders consisting of Ashok Singhal, Murli Manohar Joshi, L.
K. Advani, Uma Bharti, Sadhvi Ritambhra, Bhanu Pratap Shukla and
Kedarnath Sahni, among others, were all present there when the frenzied
mob began its onslaught on the mosque and it caved in. Sharma reiterates
how Advani asked him to ask the karsevaks to climb down. He went there
along with Uma Bharti but instigated the mob, instead. He claims: “Main
aur Uma Bharti dono gaye hum wo gumbad ki back side jeep mein … neeche
utro neeche se karseva karo ye hum bol rahe the kudal marni hai toh
saali neeche se maaro aur humare saath ACP Gupta tha (Both I and Uma
Bharti went there in jeep from the backside of the dome … we told them
to climb down … do the karseva from below … if you want to strike the
pickaxe hit it from below … and accompanying us was ACP Gupta).”
He
recollects the famous exhortation of Uma Bharti which she made to incite
the mob: “Unka jinka mujhe yaad hai Uma Bharti ka hi hai yahi ek dhakka
aur do Babri Masjid tod do (The slogan I still remember is that of Uma
Bharti … Give one more push/bring down the Babri Masjid).”
According
to Sharma, the atmosphere across the country was so surcharged that
even the Congress Party wanted the mosque to be demolished: “Har Hindu
chahta tha iss dharti ke upar even Congressi bhi chahte the. Voton ke
karan nahi nahi karte hain sab (Every Hindu on this earth wanted it.
Even Congress people wanted it. All would say no to it in public for
(fear of votes)).” Sharma makes another revelation: “Itna zaroor hai ki
Lok Sabha mien Narashima Rao the PM toh Narashima Rao ne Subramanian
Swamy se poocha ki koi definite source ho toh batlao lake mujhe ki kya
planning hai toh Subramanian Swamy MP the mere dost hain aaj … wo mere
paas aaye jo haal hai kaha Prem ji 6 December ko ye kya plan hai. Maine
kaha masjid jayegi ye Babri Masjid jayegi. Maine kaha bhai kya mamla hai
bole wo Narashima Rao pooch raha tha wo kehte aap par bharosa hai aisa
lao maine kaha bhai jayegi maine toh isliye keh diya ki taiyari poori ho
gayi thi (prime minister Narashima Rao had asked Subramanian Swamy in
the Lok Sabha to get some definite source which could tell what the
planning was. Subramanian Swamy was an MP. He is a friend even today. He
came to me and asked me what was the plan for December 6. I said the
mosque will sure go. When I asked him what was the matter, he said
Narashima Rao wanted to know about it from some dependable source. I
said the mosque will go. I said so because all preparation (for
demolition) had been made).”
Although he claims he knew all
preparations had been made to bring down the mosque, Sharma would not
accept that he was privy to any conspiracy.
Swami Nritya Gopal Das, Hindu priest
Sadness and joy in the saffron brigade
Sadness and joy in the saffron brigade
Another
Hindu sant who was in the thick of action on that fateful day, Swami
Nritya Gopal Das, considers December 6, 1992, the golden moment of his
life. Faithful and devout a man as he is, Das gratefully acknowledges
certain players who made it happen: “Bhagwan Ram ki kripa se jo asambhav
karya tha wo sambhav ho gaya … usmein Chandra Reddy, Pradhan Mantri,
Kalyan Singh inka bada sahyog raha hai wo ek dancha tha … virajman ho …
dwast ho gaya (With the grace of Lord Ram Chandra, an impossible task
was accomplished … we received the support of from Chandra Reddy (sic),
the (then) prime minister and Kalyan Singh).”
Saying nobody present
on that day was averse to what was happening, he defends Adavni’s
utterances: “Nahin hum log the Advani ji ityadi jitne bhi Vishwa Hindu
Parishad ke saath-saath jitne bhi sabhi neta the … sabhi log the koi
roka toka nahi poojan karaye idhar poojan ho raha tha udhar sab kaam
kiya sabki ruchi thi sabki bhawnayen judi huyi thi ye toh thoda sa aisa
hai na jo bhi neta hota hai ya pad par hota hai uski maryada hoti hai
toh unhone thoda sa jo bhi hulla macha rahe the todne ja rahe todne ja
rahe kaafi varisth neta hone ke naate uska ye kartavya ho jaata hai ki
aan haan bhai mat todiye parantu unki hardik abhilashayein nahi thi ki
koi sahyog na de par wo ek batuar neta ke taur par ye kaha tha nahi nahi
mat todiye mat todiye (No, we all were there, Advani and all VHP
leaders were together there … nobody tried to stop it … while we were
doing pooja, they were doing the work … everybody wanted it … their
sentiments were associated with it … the problem is if someone is a
leader or is holding a high position, it carries cetain dignity. So,
when people started shouting, as they were going to break it, as a
leader it becomes his duty to tell them not to do so. As a leader he
told them not to break it).”
Defending Advani, Das says that the BJP
leader did not say no to the Sankalp that was taken to demolish Babri:
“Na, na aisa nahi hai hum toh wahin the sankalp mein wahin the ye mana
wana unhone kuch nahi kevel rashtriya star ke neta hone ke kaarna bola
haan haan kya kar rehe aise aise hi jhoot moot hulla gulla … haan haan
sankalp hua hum toh wahin sankalp mein baithe huye the (No, there is
nothing of that sort. When the Sankalp was being administered, I was
there. He did not stop it. Being a national leader, he asked them ‘what
are you doing’ just for the heck of it … yes the Sankalp was
administered … I was sitting there when it was administered).”
It was
said in the oath that the structure should be brought down. Says Gopal
Das: “Sankalp yehi hua ki wo dhwast ho jaye (The Sankalp was taken that
it should be demolished).”
Gopal Das may defend Advani but many of
his counterparts in the movement think diametrically opposite. Among
such key figures of the movement are Acharya Dharmendra and Mahant
Avaidynath.
Acharya Dharmendra Dev, VHP leader
The architect of the Babri Masjid demolition
The architect of the Babri Masjid demolition
Claiming
to be accused No. 1 in the Ayodhya case, Acharya Dharmendra won’t talk
straight or talk about Ayodhya at all. The reason is obvious: “Toh koi
agar shadyantra racha tha toh kyon bataoonga aapko. CBI court mein itne
hazri huyi hai meri, Liberhann Commission mein mere itne bayan huye hain
wo jo maine kaha tha usase zyada main kaise kahoonga. Gopaniye agar koi
janta wo agar aapko bata doonga toh ye mujhse bada bewaqoof kaun hoga
(If there were a conspiracy why should I tell it.
I have made so many
appearances before the CBI court and I have given so many statements
before the Liberhann Commission. Why should I tell anything more than
what I have already said? If I tell you something that is a secret, then
who else will be a more foolhardy than me).”
He again avers: “Manch
par Hanuman Chalisa kara rahe the aur dhai lakh aadmi baithe huye
Hunuman Chalisa parh rahe the aur kuch dhancha tod rahe the … jo adalat
mein kaha gaya hai wo hi toh bataoonga na (I was reciting Hanuman
Chalisa on the dais and two-and-a-half lakh people there were doing it
too … I will tell you only what I have told the courts).”
Although he
would not say anything that implicates him, Acharya Dharmendra
nonetheless confesses to be the architect of the whole movement which
culminated in the demolition: “Dekha nahi hum sutradhar the uske dekhna
kya tha dekha toh logon ne (You did not notice I was the architect of
it. What was there to be seen? The people saw it).”
Like other
hardliners of the Sangh Brotherhood, Acharya Dharmendra is livid at the
tear-shedding by BJP leader L. K. Advani on that day, showering curses
on both Advani and BJP for their betrayal of the cause of Ram
Janmabhoomi and accusing them for using it to gain power. Acharya
Dharmendra vents his anger on the top BJP leadership thus: “Acha sachai
jaanein. Sachai ye hai ki Advani ji karm fod rahe hain abhi tak karm fod
rahe hain ki mere jeevan ki abhi tak ki sabse badi durghatna thi.
Sachai ye hai. Toh fir kis ko kya fayada hona hai? Atalji ne kaha mere
jeevan ka sabse sharmnak din hai toh aur kya sachai hai? Sachai ye hai
Arun Jaitley ne kaha ki Hindutva humare liye ek loklubhavan nara hai
anyatha hum Gandhivadi samajvadi dharmnirpeksh loktantra mein vishwash
rakhte hain. Satya ye hai ki Sushma Swaraj ne 1992 mein ye kaha ki Ram
Janmabhoomi ek baar hi cash hota hai aur wo humne cash karwa liya wo
karva chuke aur kya satya hai (Know the truth! The truth is Adavni is
still cursing his karma going about saying that it (Ayodhya demolition)
was the saddest event of his life. This is the truth. Then, who is going
to benefit? Atal (Behari Vajpayee) said it was the most shameful event
of his life. What more truth you want to know? The truth is Arun Jaitley
said that Hindutva is a populist slogan for them. Otherwise, we believe
in the Gandhian, Socialist and secular democracy. The truth is Sushma
Swaraj said in 1992 that you can encash Ram Janmabhoomi movement only
once and we have done that. What more thruth you want to know)?”
As
the Cobrapost investigation has revealed, Acharya Dharmendra had
exhorted the karsevaks to take home bricks and other pieces of debris of
the fallen Babri as mementos of their bravery to be worshipped. In his
interview, he came close to accepting that when he said: “Haan toh
dhahai gayi thi toh log utha utha kar malwa le gaye bas jin jin ne
hataya tha toda tha wo kyon nahi le jaate apni bahaduri ka award apne
saath kyon nahi le jaate aur jo log gaye the iss karya mein sammilit
hone ke liye wo kyon chhodte wo utha kar le gaye (Yes, when the Babri
was felled, people took away all the debris. Why shouldn’t those who had
come and had participated in removing it take it all as an award for
their bravery)?”
Mahant Avaidyanath, president, Kendriya Margdarshak Mandal of the Dharma Sansad
VHP claims credit, curses BJP
VHP claims credit, curses BJP
Presiding
over the Kendriya Margdarshak Mandal of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement
that was the pivot of the Ayodhya movement, Mahant Avaidyanath has only
contempt for leaders like Advani. Speaking of Advani, the head priest of
Goraksha Dham spews venom: “Advani bahut … unko toh zinda nahi rehna
chahiye (Advani … he should not stay alive).”
He doesn’t spare the
rest of the BJP leadership either, saying: “Nahi sab swarthi log hain jo
iss tareh se kehte hain kyonki aapko Hindutva ki avashayakta nahi hai
jab zaroorat hoti hai istemaal karte hain (No, all these leaders are
selfish who say such things because they don’t need Hindutva at all.
When they need it, they just use it).”
Completely negating the role
of the battle for Babri, Avaidyanath gives all the credit for its fall
to VHP: “BJP se koi matlab nahi hai BJP wale jo hain wo party ke roop
mein nahi aye party ke roop mein President the kyonki unko vote jo hai
Hinduon ka milta hai lekin iss ladai ko poora VHP ne lada (BJP has
nothing to do with it. The BJP fellows did not participate in it as
party workers. Their president was representing the party because they
get Hindu votes … but this battle was fought by VHP only).”
He has no
hesitation in admitting who brought the disputed structure down, when
he says: “Haan VHP dwara toda gaya (Yes, it was felled by VHP).” When
asked if a meeting was held at Hindu Dham where it was decided to fell
the mosque, and the BJP was not invited to this meeting, he admits to
have attended this meeting: “Aisi baat nahi hai. BJP toh ayi hi nahi
thi. BJP involve nahi thi aur BJP chahti thi wo toh VHP Ram Janmabhoomi
andolan se jude the wo hi log the (This is not the case. BJP did not
come and it was not involved at all. Only those leaders of VHP who were
associated with the Ram Janmabhoomi Movement were present in this
meeting).”
“Haan, meeting huyi thi bulai gayi thi (Yes, the meeting
was held),” he says thus confirming what many of the leaders have
admitted in the course of this investigation. But Avaidyanath would
never name the leaders who attended it. He would say only this much:
“Ismein abhi jo case chal raha hai usmein sab log jo hai ye (All those
who are facing the trial were there in the meeting).” The reason is, as
Avaidyanath says, “Hum kehenge wo koi likh dega akhbar mein toh kal koi
baat hogi to bas giraftar kar lenge (If I say something and some
newpapers publish it, they may arrest me).” So he won’t let us know who
did what on December 6.
Denying that there was a proposal to fell the
mosque, Avaidyanath says: “Dekhiye prastav koi nahi wo hi cheez
likhwayi gayi thi ki humein gulami ka chinh jo hai Ram Janmabhoomi mukti
ke liye kaun se naye upay hai jisase hum sarkar ko bhi badhya kar sakte
hain (There was no such proposal (of breaking the mosque). This symbol
of slavery … what measures should we adopt for the liberation of Ram
Janmabhoomi to force the government … only this much was written in
it).”
Avaidyanath is, however, candid enough to accept that an oath
or Sankalp to fell the mosque was administered that day. “Haan (Yes),”
he confirms. According to him everybody present there wanted the
structure to go but nobody will say they did it.
The Cobrapost
reporter reminds him of the sacrifices numerous karsevaks made who died
for the cause. But none of the leaders or their outfits came forward to
help their families or dependents. One such karsevak was Vinod Vats who
died. His old parents have nothing to fall back upon.
A very callous,
indifferent face of this movement and it leadership comes in full glare
when Avaidyanath makes light of such a sacrifice: “Sabko marna hai
tumko bhi hai mujhe bhi marna hai. Mrityu ko kaun rok sakta hai (All
have to die, both you and me. Death is inevitable).” He has the same
philosophy for his old, helpless parents: “Wo bhi marenge unko bhi marna
hai (They will also die. They also have to die).”
Jaibhan Singh Paweya, All India General Secretary of Bajrang Dal, sitting MLA, Madhya Pradesh
The sinister saffron quartet’s conspiracy
The sinister saffron quartet’s conspiracy
An
engineer by profession and an avowed Hindu nationalist by conviction,
Jaibhan Singh Paweya was one of the leading lights of the Ram Janmbhoomi
movement. His interview with Cobrapost makes it clear that all the arms
of Hindu brotherhood knew what the other outfit was doing. Paweya makes
it clear when he says: “Sahi ye hai ki iss andolan ke netritva mein
jismein Bhajapa ke bhi Hinduvadi neta shamil the ek leadership hoti hai
total milakar Sangh, VHP aur BJP, sant ye chaar part the samajh mein aa
raha hai na aapko Sangh, VHP, BJP aur sant (It will be right to say that
the leadership of this movement, in which there were some Hindutva
hardliners of the BJP, consisted of four parts in total, (Rashtriya
Swayamsevak) Sangh, VHP, BJP and the Hindu sants … do you understand
Sangh, VHP, BJP and the Hindu sants ).”
According to Paweya, Ashok
Singhal, Sheshadri, Advani and the top rung of the sadhus had decided on
December 5 that the disputed structure would not be harmed. But there
was another stream which had a different opinion. Says Paweya: “Lekin ek
waisi dhara thi, ek alag stream thi jo chahti thi ki jab do lakh log
bulaye jaa chuke hain toh unke saath dhokha nahi karna chahiye karseva
karni hai. Usmein Murli Manohar Joshi, Acharya Giriraj Kishore,
Bhanuprasad Shukla, Dalmia ji, Dharmendra ji ye ek aisa wo tha jo chahte
the ki kuch hona chahiye … ye maloom tha ki … hum aur Katiyar bhi
shamil the … ye maloom tha ki agar ek eent bhi giri toh sarkarein girni
hain aur poora kiya toh bhi hona hai aur hone se roka nahi ja sakta (But
there was a different stream among the leadership which wanted some
action when two lakh people had been invited and karseva should be
conducted. Murli Manohar Joshi, Acharya Giriraj Kishore, Bhanu Prasad
Shukla, Dalmiya, (Acharya) Dharmendra, I and Katiyar were in this stream
… we knew that governments will fall if a single brick falls (from the
structure). But if we did not do anything it was going to happen anyway.
It could not be stopped).”
The karsevaks gathered there in lakhs,
according to Paweya, were getting restive and the leadership was aware
of it. A small band of such karsevaks had been formed to dismantle the
structure. Says Paweya: “Doosri taraf underground floor par ek Sheshnag
Vahini logon ne bana lithi aur usmein daurne ki training matlab kaise
jayenge kaise charhenge (On the other hand, people had formed a Sheshnag
Vahini and they were being provided training for like moving about and
scaling the walls, under (below) the ground floor there itself).” Both
these groups had a meeting on December 5 that stretched up to midnight
but no consensus emerged. The next day the karsevaks would not listen to
any appeal by any senior leader and went about hammer and tongs to raze
the Babri. All these leaders witnessed the demolition from the podium
of Ram Katha Manch.
Paweya reveals how Joshi persuaded chief minister
Kalyan Singh not to resign till the job was done.
Here is what Paweya
says: “Uss samay andolan mein baat ye hai ki Kalyan Singh ne tyagpatra
dene ki taiyari kar li dopahar ek baje tak Joshi ko convey kiya ki main
taygpatra de raha hoon toh Dr. Joshi ne kaha kiske kehne se. Unhone kaha
Atalji ne bola hai. Dr. Joshi ne kaha who is Atal ji? I am party
president. Jab tak poora toot na jaye koi sena ya force ka pravesh nahi
hona chahiye aur aap taygpatra nahi denge. Sena aa jayegi agar aapne
tyagpatra de diya (During the movement, Kalyan Singh had made up his
mind to resign (from chief ministership) at about 1 p.m. He conveyed it
to Joshi. Dr. Joshi asked at whose behest he was going to resign. (Prime
Minister) Atal (Bihari Vajpayee), he said. Dr. Joshi said who is
Atalji, I am party president. Until the structure is demolished
completely, the army should not be allowed to step in and you should not
resign. If you resign, the army will step in).” All the leaders present
on the podium dreaded that there would be a bloodbath if the army
stepped in.
Paweya describes it thus: “Scene toh ye tha ki manch ke
peeche Ritambhara apne guru se keh rahi thi ki ye to gururji galti ho
gayi at toh goli chalegi log maare jayenge. Manch par tees logon mein se
main poore samay paach–chhe ghante saath hi tha (The scene was like
this: There was (Sadhvi) Ritambhara at the back of the (Ram Katha) Manch
who was telling her guru that a terrible mistake has been made and now
there would be police firing and people will get killed. There were 30
people on the podium and I was there with them for 5–6 hours).”
Paweya
also describes how the debris of the mosque was removed in no time:
“Acharya Dharmendra ne ek appeal ki ki tum jin eenton par dhook rahe ho
ghrina mein ye vijay ka prateek hain inko apne ghar ki pooja mein le
jakar rakho toh ekdum se do lakh logon ne pata nahin lagne diya (Acharya
Dharmendra made an appeal (telling the karsevaks) that the bricks (of
the demolished Babri) you are spitting on with hatred are a symbol of
victory. Take them along to your home and keep them at your place of
worship. This is how two lakh people cleaned the site of its last fallen
brick in no time).”
Naturally, the investigating agencies like the CBI could not lay their hands on such material, although they raided the houses of all the accused in the case.
Naturally, the investigating agencies like the CBI could not lay their hands on such material, although they raided the houses of all the accused in the case.
As Cobrapost investigations
reveal, Paweya also claims that even petrol bombs were used for the
demoltion of Babri: “Ek petrol bomb do baje koi lekar aaya jo eent mein
lagane ke baad dhuan nikal kar reh gaya uske baad hila bhi nahi … Brij
Bhushan laya tha arre petrol bomb (Somebody brought a petrol bomb at
about 2 p.m. After it was planted between the bricks, it did not work,
releasing some smoke only. Brij Bhushan had brought the petrol bomb).”
Like
his colleague Ram Bhakt Dharmendra Gurjar, Paweya too reveals that the
PAC was not only encouraging but also helping karsevaks as they went
about tearing the structure down: “Wahan nirman kayra ka jo stall tha,
uss stall ko todkar ke saaman nikala. Usmein jo rasse the aur jo PAC tha
jo Uttar Pradesh ka usne chhaini aur ye saari cheezein logon ke haath
mein di ki isko saale ko sirdard ko khatma karo to wo sahyog mein lekar
usase toota tha. Matlab PAC favour mein thi poora sainya bal ye keh raha
tha kya-kya chahye tumhein tod daalo tum ye tha wahan par (There was
this stall for construtction work. That stall was broken apart and the
ropes and other stuff were taken out. The PAC of Uttar Pradesh gave the
people chisels and other implements saying they should remove this
headache forever. This is how they cooperated in the demolition. I mean
the PAC was in absolute favour. The constabulary was saying tell us what
you want. You break it down. This is how it happened).”
Vinay Katiyar, former President, Bajrang Dal, former MP from Faizabad
One
of the leading lights of the Hindutva Brigade, Vinay Katiyar headed
Bajrang Dal which along with other Hindu outfits spearheaded the Ram
Janmabhoomi movement since the days it gained momentum with Ram–Janki
Rath Yatra finally leading to Babri demolition.
Reminiscing on the
events of the day, after the Babri had been razed and Ram Lala had been
instated in a makeshift temple, Vinay Katiyar says: “Aur pooja hone ke
baad bhi din bhar kaam chalta raha. Ek raat aur beet gayi. Iske baad
police ne kaha ki jaiyiye stithi badi kharab ho rahi hai. Desh mein
dange shuru ho gaye the (And after the pooja has been conducted, the
work continued the whole day. Another night passed, thus. The next day
the police authrorities asked us to leave (Ayodhya) saying the situation
is getting worse. Riots had started across the country).” But he did
not leave Ayodhya until he was arrested along with other perpetrators of
this act. He says: “Yaar hum toh 24 ghante 48 ghante poora aage peeche
hai toh rahe na wahi wahi jab giraftar nahi huye (Friend I stayed put
there for about 48 hours until I was arrested).”
Apart from corroborating his involvement in the act, Katiyar makes a shocking revelation about how then Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao had given his tacit approval for Babri demolition. The only difference is that the message was given by none other than the then Union Home Minister Shankar Chavan. “Ismein badi mahatvapoorna bhoomika Narasimha Rao ki thi aur griha mantri Shankar Chavan ki thi. Dono ke beech kamre mein baatcheet chalti rahi ki ye gir gaya dhancha ab ye gir gaya ye gir gaya duniya ko batate rahe ki P. V. Narasimha Rao so rahe hain (Within the confines of his room, the two will discus the structure will fall and the world outside they will say Narasimha Rao is taking a nap).”
He
relates how Chavan himself had asked the Hindutva Brigade to tear the
Babri down: “Shankar Rao Chavan ne mujhse swayam kaha jahaj mein jab
ayodhya aaye the … mujhse kaha tha ki bhaiya aapki sarkar hai isko sab
dhwast karo banao (When Shankar Rao Chavan visited Ayodhya he himself
told me in the plane that now it is your government (in Uttar Pradesh).
Destroy (the mosque) completely and build it (the Ram temple) quickly).”
Sadhvi Ritambhara, VHP leader
Cheers amid the betrayal of the BJP
Another
instigator of the karsevaks who brought down the Babri Masjid was
Sadhvi Ritambhara. The Cobrapost reporter met the sadhvi at her Mathura
Ashram. She speaks of that moment: “Sab jai jaikar ho rahi thi nare kaun
sab laga rahe the … humne kya bolna tha ‘Jai Shri Ram ho gaya kaam’
(There were cheers all around. Everybody was shouting slogans … I said,
‘Victory to Ram, the job is done).”
Egging on the karsevaks to destroy the Babri Masjid from the dais were senior leaders of the movement. Says Ritambhara: “Ab manch par toh bahut log the ye toh sangathan ke log zyada bata sakte hain. Champatrai ji, Rajendra ji … Advani ji, Uma Bharti ji, Acharya Dharmendra, hum the, humare gurudev the, mahatvapoorna log manch par hi the (There were so many people on the dais. Only the people from the organization can tell you that. Champatrai, Rajendra … Advani, Uma Bharti, Acharya Dharmendra, me and my guru all were there so were all the important leaders).” But she would not tell which of these leaders gave incendiary speeches to instigate karsevaks. She would admit this much only: “Sabhi ka bhashan ho raha tha sabhi nare laga rahe the (All gave speeches and all shouted slogans).”
Like many of her colleagues in the movement, she is dismayed at the betrayal of BJP. She does not hide her disgust. The entire community of sants, she says, feels cheated: “Dekhiye sant toh naraj isiliye bhi huye ki Bhajapa ko jitna gambhir uss vishay par baad mein hona chahiye tha utna unhone rajnitik laabh liya utni toh wo nahi rahi na toh ye toh ek dhokha hua na janta ke saath iss baat ka toh santon ko bhi bahut dukh hua na kyonki samaj ke samne toh sant gaye the na (You see, sants got angry because although BJP made political capital out of it, it did not do enough for the cause. They betrayed the public and sants also feel very sad about it because it is they who had approached the public in the first place).”
Kalyan Singh, former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
Doing his ‘best’ to thwart the Babri demolition
Doing his ‘best’ to thwart the Babri demolition
An
accused in the Ayodhya case, Kalyan Singh was the chief minister of
Uttar Pradesh who failed to abide by the undertaking that his government
had given to the Supreme Court to protect the Babri Masjid. Instead,
his government not only allowed lakhs of karsevaks to reach Ayodhya but
also abdicated its responsibility of maintaining law and order. As the
Cobrapost investigation has established, Kalyan Singh was being kept
posted of every development, for leaders like Vedanti claim to have
categorically conveyed it to him on December 5 that the structure will
be demolished the following day, yet he did not act. Our investigation
also establishes the fact that Kalyan Singh was persuded by leaders like
Murli Manohar Joshi and Sheshadri to not resign until Operation
Janmabhoomi was complete.
Kalyan Singh, a seasoned politician that he is, denies he had any discussions with leaders at Ayodhya or he had any information beforehand of the demolition plan. Says the former chief minister: “Nahi, chhe December 1992 ko jab dhanch toota … dhancha karsevakon ne tod diya main Ayodhya ke kisi neta se meri koi baat nahi huyi (No, when the structure was demolished on December 1992 … the karsevaks broke it … I did not speak with any leader from Ayodhya).”
On instruction from leaders like Joshi from Ayodhya when the structure had been hammered to dust, Kalyan Singh says: “Kisi se nahi na toh Joshi se meri baatchit huyi na kisi se (I didn’t have any talk with anybody, nor with Joshi).”
But he knew what was happening there, and this information came from the local administration, as he says: “Mera kehna hai mujhe kisi ne kuch nahi kaha na meri kisi se koi baat huyi … haan jo adhikari the DM wagaireh unhone mujhe soochna di thi ki aise-aise ghatne ghatit ho gayi hai karsevak charh gaye hain (I will say that neither did anybdy inform me nor did I speak with anybody. Yes the officials such as the DM informed me that this has happened. Karsevaks have climbed (the mosque)).”
But he did his best, he says, to stop the demolition: “Poora prayas kiya tha rokne ke liye jo bhi avashyak tha … aur ye bhi keh kiya tha ki bheed ko hutane ke liye kisi bhi prakar ka force chahe istemal karein keval goli nahi chalayi jayegi. Bal ka prayog aansu gas chhodna thoda sab kuch kariye goli nahi chalani. Karan tha agar goli chalti hazaron karsevak maare jaate curfew hota sabki suraksha ke pukhta intezam kiye jo hona tha ho gaya (I did my best whatever was necessary and I had instructed the administration to use whatever force they could to disperse crowds but they would not shoot. Use force, use tear gas, do whatever you can but don’t shoot. If there was firing, thousands of karsevaks would have died, curfew had to be clamped. There were solid arrangements for security. Whatever had to happen happened).”
Champatrai Bansal, Joint General Secretary, VHP
Ram versus Ravan over the Babri Masjid
Although one of the pillars of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and an architect who witnessed the Babri Masjid demolition on December 6, Champatrai Bansal trashes every suggestion of conspiracy behind the event, let alone accept his role in it. Claiming the demolition was a spontaneous act of karsevaks, the closest he comes to accepting his involvement is when he says: “Chhe December wale mein main Ayodha mein tha (I was there in Ayodhya on December 6).” He was there not as a participant but as a spectator. “Kuch nahi darshak (Nothing but a spectator),” he says of his role.
He doesn’t say he did not see Ashok Singhal there when asked pinpointedly if he had met the VHP supremo: “Kyon nahi saath-saath he rehte the (Why not. We would stay together).” But it does not mean that they stayed in the same building, he contradicts himself.
Whatever he says is suggestive only and one has to read the subtext. For instance, Bansal says of the symbolic kar seva which some of the leaders were trying to negotiate: “Sabne milkar tay kiya tha ki kal aisa karenge maine itna keh diya tha ye yojna aapki safal nahi hogi kyon kyon nahi hogi ye lakhon log aapki koi baat nahi manenge kisi ke niyantran mein nahi hogi kyon koi kisi ka neta bheed mein sab wo hi aate hain jinhein tum bulate ho bheed mein (All had decided that tomorrow we will do this. I said your plan will not work. Why? These crowds of lakhs are not going to listen to you. They will not be under any control. Why? They don’t have a leader to follow. Only those people come in crowds to whom you give a call).”
Drawing an analogy with the killing of Lanka’s
Ravan at the hands of Lord Ram, Bansal says when the reporter draws his
attention to Advani’s statement that it was a sad day for him: “Kehne do
dekho har ek ko adhikar hai kehne ka. Mujhe dukh nahi, mujhe prasannata
hai. Ravana mara samaj prasanna hua ki nahi aajtak prasannata vyakt
karta hai ki ni. Lekin Ravana ko prasannata karne wale samaj ne mara ki
Ram ne mara (Let him say so. Everybody has right to say whatever he
wants. But I am not sad, rather I am happy. When Ravan was killed,
society rejoiced. Isn’t it? Society still rejoices this. Isn’t it? But
the question is who killed Ravan? The rejoicing society or Ram)?”
Unable to understand, the reporter says it was Ram who killed Ravan. Bansal asks again: “Ram ne mara ki Vibhishan ne mara (Ram killed Ravana or Vibhishan killed him?).”
The reporter again names Ram. Bansal asks again: “Vibhishan ki bhoomika nahi hai (Didn’t Vibhishan have a role in it)?”
Now, you get the point. This is no less an admission of the role Bansal played in Babri demolition as an agent saboteur.
Satish Pradhan, former Shiv Sena MP
Playing an evasive role
Declaring
at the outset that he is no longer in politics, Satish Pradhan is
evasive about his role in the Babri Masjid demolition, which is quite
understandable as the Ayodha case is still subjudice even after 18
years. The maximum he would say of those times is: “I am related but
baaki sab band kar diya, kuch nahi (I am related (to the movement) but
the rest is past, nothing).”
The closest he comes to revealing is in a very subtle manner, when he admits that leaders like Pawan Pandey had contributed a lot to Ayodhya movement: “Haan ye baat sahi hai ki Pawan Pandey wagaireh sab the. Wo mulaqat karke nahi bol raha hoon. Baaki sab log aise hi gaye the. Yogdan jo hai uska organization mein Pawan Kumar ji ka bahut acha hai (Yes, it is true that there were Pawan Pandey and others. But I am not saying that there was any meeting. The rest of the people went there on their own. Pawan Kumar (Pandey) made a significant contribution to the organisation).”
Of the role of Balasaheb Thackeray and the strategy of his outfit, we would say only this much: “Nahi kuch bhi nahi aisa kuch nahi strategy aisa bola jaata hai kya (No, there was nothing like that. Strategy! Should one say such things)?” He further explains why he would not speak on the issue: “Jara samajh lo itna aisi baat nahi karenge jab court ka mamla ho toh ussi dhang se zawab dena padta hai (Try to understand, I will not say such things. When the matter is pending with the courts, then one has to reply accordingly).”
Some more pursuation and Pradhan is irritated enough to say: “Wo main Jai Bhagwan Goel nahi hoon. Wo hoga CBI lekar gayi thi Madhya Pradesh mein kahan kiya batao … kahan training hu kya hui kidhar meeting hui thi kuch meeting bhi nahi hua tha fir bhi bakwas baaji karne ke liye bol diya usne meeting hui thi (I am not Jai Bhagwan Goel. He must have been there. CBI had taken him to Madhya Pradesh to verify where the training was held, what kind of training it was. There was no such meeting. Still he said there was meeting).”
Saying that a good politician should do politics with minimum risk, he explains with finality: “Main andolan ke baare mein aisa nahi boloonga. Main boloonga doosra koi kuch bhi bolega wo itna nahi serious liya jayega. Jab main baat karoonga toh wo utna hi serious liya jaayega (I will not say anything about the movement. If someone else speaks about it, it will not be taken seriously but if I speak, it will be taken seriously).” The reason is obvious that he was not only an MP but also a top Shiv Sena leader: “Usase bhi Shiv Sena ka neta tha badi post thi mere paas (Not only that. I was also a Shiv Sena leader holding a high post).”
Moreshwar Save, former Shiv Sena MP
Shiv Sena’s secret strategy meeting
The
CBI has mentioned in its chargesheet that the Shiv Sena had held a
secret meeting in North Avenue in Delhi in which the demolition of Babri
Masjid was planned. Present in this meeting were two of its MPs,
Moreshwar Save and Satish Pradhan. The premier investigating agency,
however, could not prove this in the court. The Cobrapost reporter met
Moreshwar Save at Aurangabad in the course of this undercover
investigation and asked if the Shiv Sena had a meeting at his government
residence in Delhi.
“Nahi usmein nahi kiya tha doosri jageh kiya … North Avenue (No, it was not held there but at some other place … North Avenue).” This establishes the fact that a meeting was held and that the Babri demolition was also planned by the Shiv Sena. It was Moreshwar Save who Pawan Pandey, his co-Sainik, says gave him Rs. 65,000–70,000 to arrange food for the training camps Shiv Sena had organized at Morena and Bhind. Save is no longer with Shiv Sena. Bhagwan Goel too has confessed to have attended this secret meeting which was held in November in North Avenue.
Prakash Sharma, Joint Secretary Bajrang Dal, now Joint General Secretary VHP
‘The demolition was a spontaneous act’
Taking further his family association with the RSS, a young Prakash Sharma joined Bajrang Dal 1984, the youth wing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad which was formed to protect the Ram–Janki Rath Yatra which was undertaken by various Hindu outfits from various parts of the country to culminate at Ayodhya. It threw him into the thick of action in those years of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement which ultimately led to Babri demolition on December 6, 1992. Bajrang Dal was banned by the government after the demolition; the ban was lifted after two years on court orders.
Although Sharma has seen all and done all, he would not say anything that would go against him as he is an accused in the Ayodhya case. He likes to beat about the bush and one has to read the subtext. For instance, when the Cobrapost reporter says it was his chief Vinay Katiyar who founded Bajrang Dal, Sharma says: “Dekhiye vyakti koi mat boliye Bharat ke santon ne naujawanon ko Ram–Janki rathon ki suraksha ke liye Bajrang Dal VHP ke bhag ke roop mein sthapana hui … arre sangathan hai na Vihip aur Sangh (You see, don’t name individuals. The sants of Bharat entrusted the safety of Ram–Janki raths to the youth for which Bajrang Dal was formed as part of VHP … we have organizations like VHP and Sangh (RSS)).” Of the developments before and on 6 December, he says: “Nahi dekhiye swabhavik roop se santon ne ghoshna ki thi chhe December ko karseva karenge karseva ka ek praoop bhi tay tha (You see, naturally the sants had declared that they will conduct the karseva on December 6 and an outline of the karseva had also been prepared).” All were hoping that the Allahabad High Court would give a judgment on the land that the state government had acquired for the Ram Temple to be built there. The judgment was due on Decmber 4 but the judiciary postponed it for December 11. This, according to Sharma, enraged the lakhs who had gathered at Ayodhya for karseva. So they decided to settle the dispute for all times to come and fell the mosque.
But there were leaders who had planned and instigated the restive mob of karsevaks, says Cobrapost reporter to elicit some corroboratory response. Sharma is, however, evasive: “Humari bhoomika par abhi aapki pustak mein bolna isliye uchit nahi kyonki nyayalay mein muqaddma chal raha hai (It will not be appropriate if I speak to you about my role in it because the case is pending in the courts).” The demolition, he maintains, was a result of a spontenous act.
Although doubting the reporter’s intentions, what he
says now is no less admission of his involvement: “Aapke prashno se toh
mujhe zyada lag raha hai ki aap kitab kum likhna chahte ho police
inquiry jo karti hai wo. Main kya kar raha tha? Arre bhai jo saare log
kar rahe the wo main kar raha tha (The kind of questions you are asking
makes me feel that more than working for your book you are working like
someone doing a police inquiry. What was I doing? I was doing what
everybody was doing (that day)).” Sharma is not categorical but subtle
when he further says: “Swabhavik roop sabki bhoomika thi ye dhancha saaf
ho jaye aur jaisa bhi hai asthai mandir banao wo ban gaya ye hi sabki
bhoomika thi (Naturally, all played their role saying this structure
should be brought down and a makeshift temple should be built there. The
temple was built thus. This is what their role was).” He is somewhat
peeved when asked where the Bajrang Dal activists when the structure was
being brought down: “Bilkul the kyon nahi the. Hum mulzim the. Bajrang
Dal ke karyakarta nahi hote toh hum mulzim kyon banaye jaate (We were
very much there. We are among the accused. If Bajrang Dal activists were
not there, then why we were made accused (in the case))?”
Lallu Singh, former BJP MLA, Ayodhya
Meetings, ferrying and feeding karsevaks
Meetings, ferrying and feeding karsevaks
Another
person who played an important role in the Ramjanmbhoomi movement and
who was witness to the demolition is Lallu Singh, former BJP MLA from
Faizabad. Although Singh would not divulge much, whatever he tells is
significantly revealing. He was entrusted with the task of overseeing
the lodging and food arrangements for karsevaks and arranging meetings
in those few tumultuous days.
“Dekhiye humare jimme vyavastha thi.
Jitni bhi vyavasth thi shuru se andolan ke pehle din se. Baithakein
karsevakon ko lana le jana, khana khilana ye sab vyavastha mere paas thi
kyonki main local tha (You see, from day one of the movement I was
looking after all the arrangements, like arranging meetings, ferrying
karsevaks and feeding them, because I was a local).”
Advising the Cobrapost reporter whom he should talk to for information on that phase of the movement, Lallu Singh says: “Sab apne hisab se batayenge. Aise do aadmi hain. Ek toh bahut bade aadmi hain, ek toh chale gaye, Moropant. Saari yojna rachna unhi ki hai. Moropant aur Pingle ki thi. Yojna rachna karne mein chaar log the. Ashok ji netritva karte the. Inhi logon ne andolan shuru kiya aur aakhir tak le gaye (Everbody will tell you it in his own way. There were two persons, one of them is a big personality and the other, Moropant, is no more. It was his planning, Moropant Pingle. Four persons planned it all. Ashok (Singhal) would lead them. It is these people who started the movement and took it to its logical conclusion).”
Advising the Cobrapost reporter whom he should talk to for information on that phase of the movement, Lallu Singh says: “Sab apne hisab se batayenge. Aise do aadmi hain. Ek toh bahut bade aadmi hain, ek toh chale gaye, Moropant. Saari yojna rachna unhi ki hai. Moropant aur Pingle ki thi. Yojna rachna karne mein chaar log the. Ashok ji netritva karte the. Inhi logon ne andolan shuru kiya aur aakhir tak le gaye (Everbody will tell you it in his own way. There were two persons, one of them is a big personality and the other, Moropant, is no more. It was his planning, Moropant Pingle. Four persons planned it all. Ashok (Singhal) would lead them. It is these people who started the movement and took it to its logical conclusion).”
The claim establishes beyond doubt how the whole movement was planned and executed.
Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, former BJP MP
‘Babri Masjid’s demolition was destiny’
Twice member of Parliament, once with BJP and then with Samajwadi Party, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh is a difficult man to be coaxed into talking about those days, for obvisous reasons. He is the man who Jai Bhan Singh Paweya claims to have tried to bomb the disputed structure at Ayodhya on December 6, by planting a petrol bomb. Though reluctantly, Singh gives some shocking revelations. One such is about how Kalyan Singh was persuaded to not resign till the Babri was razed to ground. Kalyan Singh was about to resign when Sheshadri phoned BJP leaders in Lucknow to not allow him to do so.
Says Brij Bhushan of that episode: “Dus baje istifa type kara ke karke chale gaye tab Sheshadri ji ke yahan se phone gaya inko gherkar baithaye the. Dus baje ja rahe the dene ke liye wo bhi dar gaye the … BJP ke saare neta fir Sheshadri ji ne phone kiya BJP saare neta jo Lucknow mein mauzood the jaakar ke Kalyan Singh ko ek tareeke se aghoshit capture kar diye baithiye baithiye keh kek ke paanch bajaye unko (He was going to submit his resignation after getting it typed at 10 a.m. Sheshadri phoned BJP leaders who were present in Lucknow then and all the BJP leaders went there and forced Kalyan Singh to sit with them. This is how they literally kept him under their undeclared capture till 5 p.m.).”
Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, former BJP MP
‘Babri Masjid’s demolition was destiny’
Twice member of Parliament, once with BJP and then with Samajwadi Party, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh is a difficult man to be coaxed into talking about those days, for obvisous reasons. He is the man who Jai Bhan Singh Paweya claims to have tried to bomb the disputed structure at Ayodhya on December 6, by planting a petrol bomb. Though reluctantly, Singh gives some shocking revelations. One such is about how Kalyan Singh was persuaded to not resign till the Babri was razed to ground. Kalyan Singh was about to resign when Sheshadri phoned BJP leaders in Lucknow to not allow him to do so.
Says Brij Bhushan of that episode: “Dus baje istifa type kara ke karke chale gaye tab Sheshadri ji ke yahan se phone gaya inko gherkar baithaye the. Dus baje ja rahe the dene ke liye wo bhi dar gaye the … BJP ke saare neta fir Sheshadri ji ne phone kiya BJP saare neta jo Lucknow mein mauzood the jaakar ke Kalyan Singh ko ek tareeke se aghoshit capture kar diye baithiye baithiye keh kek ke paanch bajaye unko (He was going to submit his resignation after getting it typed at 10 a.m. Sheshadri phoned BJP leaders who were present in Lucknow then and all the BJP leaders went there and forced Kalyan Singh to sit with them. This is how they literally kept him under their undeclared capture till 5 p.m.).”
The dilly-dallying on the part of the BJP casued a lot of hurtburns among the rank and file then so much so that the leaders gave in and became a willing participant. Says Brij Bhushan: “Baad mien itna bawal ho gaya, badnami ho gayi tab toh BJP ke man mein hi aa gaya ab toh gir jane do (It led to a lot of criticism so much so that the BJP leadership thought it better allow the structure to go).” He further says: “Adha adhura, sadhe nau baje yahan bawal ho gaya tab toh inke man mein hi aa gaya ab girne do kar kya sakte the jo bhagya tha jo stithi thi (This half hearted approach. At 9.30, there was a lot of turmoil. Then, they also thought it was better to allow the structure to be demolished. What else could they do in the situation? It was destiny).”
He knew of the various meetings that were held before the day Babri was demolished.
All big leaders spearheading the movement
used to attend these meetings. “Nahi, nahi. Bade netaon ki jo meeting
hoti thi usmein top level par hoti thi. Usmein Ashok Singhal hain aur
Sangh ke log hain … Ashok Singhal hote the Sheshadir ji wagaireh jo bade
uss samay the, Nritya Gopal das ji usmein koi MP nahi jaata tha (No.
The meetings of the leaders were held at the top level. Attending these
meetings would be big leaders like Ashok Singhal and Sheshadri from the
Sangh and Nritya Gopal Das),” claims Brij Bhushan.
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