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Kalyan brazens it out, says he should not be blamed
Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh on Tuesday said there was no lapse on his part in protecting the Babri Masjid, which was pulled down when he was at the helm.
Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh on Tuesday said there was no lapse on his part in protecting the Babri Masjid, which was pulled down when he was at the helm.
He, however, maintained the occasion was a proud moment for the Hindus. Singh, who was blamed by the Liberhan Commission for not being able to save the 16th century monument on December 6, 1992, said he was ready to go to jail if he was found guilty in the matter.
He said the demolition was not a result of careful planning, but because of a spontaneous outburst of emotions. “What happened on December 6, 1992, was an outburst of (emotions of) lakhs of Hindus,” he said, adding that the day was a proud one for the Hindus.
“Security arrangements had been in place. But the structure could not be saved from being demolished. (Many a time) security remains in place but certain things happen,” he told reporters here.
Singh cited the assassinations of former Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi (who died when he was not in office, however) and Indira Gandhi.
“There was tight security for (US President) John F. Kennedy. But he was shot dead. The same was the case with Rajiv Gandhi (who died in a blast caused by a human bomb) and Indira Gandhi (who was killed by her own security persons).”
Singh, however, said he had asked the security personnel not to open fire at the kar sevaks (Ram Temple activists).
“I had said kar sevaks were present in lakhs and full force should be used to stop them. But there should be no firing. If they had fired, hundreds of people could have died.” Justice M.S. Liberhan, who probed the incident, said the police and bureaucrats of Uttar Pradesh not just turned a “blind eye” to the designs of the Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh, but had “connived with (it) …”.
