NEW DELHI, 26 February 2003 — India’s opposition parties walked out of Parliament yesterday demanding the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani and another minister for their role in the 1992 demolition of the Babri Mosque.
The uproar came after the country’s top investigative agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), sought court permission to prosecute Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, the human resource development minister, over the case.
Advani and other members of the now ruling right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party had campaigned to build a temple in the northern town of Ayodhya on what they say was the birthplace of Ram.
Hindus claim Mogul Emperor Babur had destroyed a Ram temple at the site in the 16th century and built over it the Babri Mosque.
The mosque was razed by thousands of Hindu fanatics on Dec. 6, 1992, sparking nationwide riots that left 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, dead. The dispute also played a factor in riots last year in the western state of Gujarat, where another 2,000 people died.
Opposition leaders said Advani and Joshi needed to step down to ensure a fair trial. “How do you expect the CBI which functions under the home minister’s supervision, to be free and fair?” asked Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, a leader of the main opposition Congress party. Advani is also the home minister.
“Their continuance in office cannot be justified,” he said of Advani and Joshi.
Law Minister Arun Jaitley tried to assure the opposition that the government would not interfere in the case. But dissatisfied with the government’s response, the opposition, led by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, walked out of the lower house.
The opposition also walked out of the upper house.
Charges against Advani, Joshi and 19 others have been pending before the courts ever since the destruction of the Babri Mosque.
In an attempt to distance itself from the hard-liners, the BJP yesterday took exception to the language used by Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders against Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Advani on the Ayodhya issue. “Both Vajpayee and Advani have always worked to protect our culture and have raised issues that the BJP is committed to. They should be praised for this, not attacked,” said V K Malhotra, chief whip of the party.
The BJP said it would seek the support of its allies to find a solution to the Ayodhya issue provided Congress cooperated. “If Congress agrees, we would talk to our allies to find a solution to the Ayodhya tangle,” Advani told a BJP Parliamentary Party meeting here.
Opposition parties meanwhile roundly condemned the VHP’s threat to create a “hundred Gujarats” if the government did not grant the disputed piece of land in Ayodhya to Hindus for the construction of a temple to Ram. The Janata Dal (Secular) party demanded the arrest of VHP leader Praveen Togadia under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) for making inflammatory statements at a religious council that ended in New Delhi on Monday. — Additional input from Agence France Presse
