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    Liberhan Commission Report On Babri Masjid

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    Vijay M. Deshpande
    The Liberhan Commission report on the Babri Masjid demolition was submitted after 17 years and 48 extensions. However, the timing of the release and selective leaks have raised questions about the political motivations behind the delays. The report also does not address the roles and responsibilities of key political leaders at the time, like the then Prime Minister P.V. Narsimha Rao. Many see commissions of inquiry like this as political tools used to defuse public anger and kick difficult issues down the road rather than find the truth. There are calls for strengthening the CBI to directly and more quickly investigate such politically sensitive cases instead of outsourcing them to lengthy commissions of inquiry.

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    Liberhan Commission Report On Babri Masjid

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    Vijay M. Deshpande
    159 views3 pages
    The Liberhan Commission report on the Babri Masjid demolition was submitted after 17 years and 48 extensions. However, the timing of the release and selective leaks have raised questions about the political motivations behind the delays. The report also does not address the roles and responsibilities of key political leaders at the time, like the then Prime Minister P.V. Narsimha Rao. Many see commissions of inquiry like this as political tools used to defuse public anger and kick difficult issues down the road rather than find the truth. There are calls for strengthening the CBI to directly and more quickly investigate such politically sensitive cases instead of outsourcing them to lengthy commissions of inquiry.

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    Liberhan Commission Report on Babri Masjid

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    The Liberhan Commission report on the Babri Masjid demolition was submitted after 17 years and 48 extensions. However, the timing of the release and selective leaks have raised questions about the political motivations behind the delays. The report also does not address the roles and responsibilities of key political leaders at the time, like the then Prime Minister P.V. Narsimha Rao. Many see commissions of inquiry like this as political tools used to defuse public anger and kick difficult issues down the road rather than find the truth. There are calls for strengthening the CBI to directly and more quickly investigate such politically sensitive cases instead of outsourcing them to lengthy commissions of inquiry.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    159 views3 pages

    Liberhan Commission Report On Babri Masjid

    Uploaded by

    Vijay M. Deshpande
    The Liberhan Commission report on the Babri Masjid demolition was submitted after 17 years and 48 extensions. However, the timing of the release and selective leaks have raised questions about the political motivations behind the delays. The report also does not address the roles and responsibilities of key political leaders at the time, like the then Prime Minister P.V. Narsimha Rao. Many see commissions of inquiry like this as political tools used to defuse public anger and kick difficult issues down the road rather than find the truth. There are calls for strengthening the CBI to directly and more quickly investigate such politically sensitive cases instead of outsourcing them to lengthy commissions of inquiry.

    Copyright:

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    Liberhan Commission Report on Babri Masjid

    Justice M.S. Liberhan Commission of Enquiry submitted its report on demolition of


    Babri Masjid on 6th December 1992. Selective leakages and thereafter extracts of the
    report have been published by the media. The commission was set up within ten days of
    the event on 16th December 1992 and has outlasted any other commission perhaps going
    into Guinness Book of Records! 48 extensions and 17 years time frame was designed to
    test the patience of the people. Not that anyone really cares for what the report says, but it
    speaks volumes about what is not there in the report perhaps.

    1. When observations have been made with references to Atal Behari Vajpayee, who
    was not present at the site, why he was not summoned for any clarifications or
    information? It is unjust to drag his name without giving him an opportunity to
    tell the truth.
    2. Why is there no reference to P.V.Narsimha Rao, then the Prime Minister, who
    reportedly went to sleep when the Babri Masjid was being demolished? Wasn’t
    the Union home minister having any responsibility and role to safeguard the
    structure? Didn’t home ministry have any intelligence reports on intentions of
    karsevaks if there was a conspiracy?
    3. Why the commission was given 17 long years and 48 extensions to come out with
    a report only at a politically convenient time to suit the Congress and just when
    BJP is at nadir of its fortune?
    4. The final outcome of commission’s findings is released only when they become
    irrelevant. Or, perhaps this time the commission was not to be given extension
    due to austerity measures (sick) and was forced to submit winding up report?
    5. Why was there a deliberate leakage of the report when it was only with the home
    minister? And predictably there was some call for setting up another commission
    of enquiry on this leakage!
    6. Why public money is being wasted on such political tools to fool the public?
    7. Now Liberhan Commission Report is handed over to CBI as proof to proceed
    further in prosecution. Is CBI itself not mandated and competent enough to
    investigate & find out what happened and who is the culprit? Has the
    government “outsourced” the fact finding & investigative task to Liberhan
    Commission taking it away from CBI?
    8. Didn’t some one say justice delayed is justice denied? Is this “Pseudo justice”?

    Safety Valves:

    The commissions of enquiries have been always used to cool off the public anger and to
    let the time take care of the issues involved. It is only an escape valve to let off the steam.
    Commissions of enquiry have been set up in the past by states and the centre whenever
    there have public disturbances, riots or violence of unusual nature. A retired judge is
    appointed as chairman of the commission to give a sense of impartiality and sound
    analysis but not the judgment. With a report from a retired judge the government acquires
    a moral high ground to deal with opposition. Most of such cases could have been dealt
    with by CBI which has the necessary mandate and specialization for investigation.

    Strengthen CBI:

    When there is a need to have a fact finding mission about an event, invariably there is a
    court case and the matter is sub-judice. The prosecution (or the government) needs to
    gather evidences and supporting witnesses to present the case to the court. The
    government should therefore leave the matter to the investigative agencies and not find a
    substitute like a retired judge. If required, CBI should hire a retired judge to do the work
    and submit the findings just like they would hire a sleuth. CBI should have enough teeth
    without political interference to investigate the matter. Does CBI have authority to reject
    the findings of a commission and trust its own assessment?

    At least CBI would not have taken 17 years to present a report of their findings.

    More Senas and Dals:

    There are many Senas and Dals of different hues and shades all over the country which
    are the fronts for political parties to engineer public unrests. Be it problems in Godhra,
    Goa, Mangalore, Mumbai, or Orissa the state governments set up commissions of enquiry
    and perhaps no one knows what happens to them. When inconvenient the Centre appoints
    another commission, like Laloo Prasad Yadav did to get contrasting report on Godhra.

    One lesson from appointing such commissions is that we should be ready for tackling
    more of such public disturbances. Today we have separate National Investigative Agency
    for terror related cases. CBI now focuses on corruption and criminal cases. Why can’t
    we have an independent agency or a wing under CBI exclusively for politically
    triggered public disturbances? Possibly such cases will be more in numbers and
    more frequent than terror events. In such cases generally there will be a political
    pressure to submit report before the next session of the assembly or parliament. At least
    there will be a reasonable time frame for investigation and lesser waste of public money.

    As far as the utility of the Liberhan Commission report is concerned the government
    should reflect on what administrative steps should be taken to make it more responsive in
    future. But the simple facts stand out like Congress first opened the doors of Ayodhya
    site for limited worship. That was the first mistake. Then Congress at the Centre slept
    when the structure was being demolished. That was second mistake. The Liberhan
    Commission was allowed 48 extensions because of which it was robbed of legitimacy as
    well as seriousness was the third one. And the report was leaked before being tabled in
    the parliament was the fourth one. Well, it is not that BJP has done nothing wrong. But
    Congress in power could have done much more by being proactive instead of passive
    player & a mute witness and now trying to rewrite the history to project itself as the
    savior of secularism.
    I hope the parliamentary debate focuses on how to deal with similar situations in future to
    avoid fiasco.

    Vijay M. Deshpande
    Corporate Advisor,
    Strategic Management Initiative,
    Pune

    November 27, 2009

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    Or visit www.strami.com

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