facing storm: Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram leaves Parliament on Monday. (AFP)

NEW DELHI: Both Houses of Parliament were rocked on Monday over the leak of the Liberhan Inquiry Commission report that investigated the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on Dec. 6, 1992.

The BJP, which is in the dock for the demolition, faces the threat of political isolation once again. The Liberhan report declared the destroying of the mosque was not a spontaneous act but a premeditated and preplanned conspiracy.

Top BJP leaders like former Premier Atal Behari Vajpayee, Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani and former BJP President Murli Manohar Joshi were severely indicted for leading the nation to the brink of communal discord.

Noting the physical absence of Vajpayee on the fateful day, the Liberhan report stated this was part of a strategy to safeguard the secular credentials of some leaders. The report noted that the Babri demolition was meticulously planned and part of a conspiracy, contrary to disclaimers issued by the BJP and its spiritual mentor, the RSS.

Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram assured both Houses that there was only one report with the government, which was in his custody and no one in his ministry spoke to any journalist. The 17 volumes of the report would be tabled along with the Action Taken Report in the winter session.

Significantly, the Liberhan report gives a clean chit to the then government of P.V. Narasimha Rao on the ground that in a federal setup the center could not act without the state governor’s report and that the then Uttar Pradesh governor recommended against the imposition of President’s Rule in UP, fearing it might endanger the mosque.

In fact, Rao had moved the Supreme Court seeking the center should be appointed as Receiver of the Babri Masjid so it could take steps to protect the mosque. But on Dec. 2, 1992, the Apex Court rejected the plea, saying it would be casting aspersions on the democratically-elected state government of Kalyan Singh in Uttar Pradesh.

The Liberhan report also slammed certain Muslim organizations for colluding with the BJP and acting in tandem with the plans of the saffron organizations.

For close to 17 years, the BJP managed to mislead the nation by claiming the demolition was not a conspiracy but an act that occurred on the spur of the moment. The report has rubbished all such claims.