12-09-2009, 03:12 AM
Liberhan report a key to the votebank
November 29th, 2009
By Arun Nehru
The Justice Liberhan Commission, appointed to investigate the December 6, 1992, demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, has taken 17 years and 48 extensions to submit its report, at a cost of approximately Rs 8 crores to the taxpayer.
I am a little surprised that all the political parties are trying to score debating points on a report that was leaked to the media with the sole purpose of playing votebank politics and creating divisions within our society. The leak did not result in the desired controversy but instead brought together the Opposition and forced the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to table the report within 24 hours. This decision was a good damage-control exercise.
Justice Liberhanââ¬â¢s report places individual culpability for the demolition on 68 people, the bulk of whom are drawn from the Sangh Parivar ââ¬â Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The report should be consigned to the archives at the earliest to avoid political damage. Motives will be attributed to the fact that while former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao has been exonerated, former prime minister Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee has been named in the report. This is very sad. The governmentââ¬â¢s Action Taken Report (ATR), according to media reports, indicts no one in particular and has little substance. If the government proceeds on this report it will lose credibility with both, the majority and the minority community. Media reports already indicate negative reactions from the Muslim community which has demanded an apology from Justice Liberhan for certain remarks made against their community. I have a feeling that few in the media will devote much time to the report after reading the ATR.
Votebank politics is a reality as both majority and minority votes have the capacity to swing electoral results. We saw this happening in favour of the BJP in 1999 and then for the Congress in 2004 and in 2009.
We are now in a state of flux and with the Left and the BJP losing ground it is inevitable that there will be a realignment of political forces. Religion and caste still play a major role in elections. Currently, the Congress has an advantage but in politics nothing can be taken for granted. The results of the Assembly elections in Haryana and the byelections in Uttar Pradesh are just two examples. In Uttar Pradesh, the minority votes from the Samajwadi Party can travel both to the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress. All three parties will do everything possible to woo the minority community as they may determine close to 150 seats out of 400 in Uttar Pradesh.
The major electoral battle will come in the Assembly elections in 2011-12 in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Kerala. Here the minority vote will be crucial for all the parties as these four states have the highest minority population in the country.
The Liberhan Report and its contents may well leave everyone confused and I donââ¬â¢t see any advantage in this for any party. The cases relating to the Babri Masjid are already filed in Lucknow and Rae Bareli and they will probably go on for another five to ten years. Thereafter, appeals will go to higher courts. I donââ¬â¢t think this issue should be allowed to fester for another decade.
The leakage of the report is a serious matter and I do not subscribe to the view that the home minister or Justice Liberhan had anything to do with it. Anyone who was part of the commission or in the home ministry could have leaked the report. Considering that so many pages had to be photocopied it was obviously someone who had easy access to the documents. The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, expressed regret and promised a full investigation into the leak. But I have grave doubts if anything will happen. Had anyone been serious about this lapse, the Central Bureau of Investigation would have been called in.
Sensitive issues have been leaked before and it will happen again. The media coverage of one year after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks may push out the Liberhan Report from the headlines. This will suit both the UPA and the Opposition, and the voting public will be saved from the trauma of living in the past.
The challenges on internal security will increase with time. Considering the constraints of a coalition government and the fluid situation in Pakistan, the UPA government and the home minister have done well.
The United States adopted strict security measures after the bombing of the World Trade Centre on September 9, 2001. After 26/11, whatever we do will not be enough. The situation in West Asia continues to be explosive and we all know the chaos in Afghanistan and Pakistan. There are media reports that the Pakistani prosecutors have charged seven men with planning and helping to carry out the 26/11 attacks. All this means very little and may well be happening to ensure that aid from the US is not disrupted. The US is in a difficult situation in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Various terrorist organisations are aware of this and their infiltration in the Pakistan government, the Pakistan Army and the Inter-Services Intelligence is extensive.
Things may get worse in the immediate future. Whilst we may engage the global powers to provide assistance, the ground reality is that bomb blasts occur daily in the cities of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. We face severe challenges from several fronts and whilst we have much to do there is little doubt in my mind that the UPA government is giving internal security all its attention. Compared to 26/11, there is a marked improvement in our capability to tackle the challenges for the future.
Arun Nehru is a former Union Minister
November 29th, 2009
By Arun Nehru
The Justice Liberhan Commission, appointed to investigate the December 6, 1992, demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, has taken 17 years and 48 extensions to submit its report, at a cost of approximately Rs 8 crores to the taxpayer.
I am a little surprised that all the political parties are trying to score debating points on a report that was leaked to the media with the sole purpose of playing votebank politics and creating divisions within our society. The leak did not result in the desired controversy but instead brought together the Opposition and forced the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to table the report within 24 hours. This decision was a good damage-control exercise.
Justice Liberhanââ¬â¢s report places individual culpability for the demolition on 68 people, the bulk of whom are drawn from the Sangh Parivar ââ¬â Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The report should be consigned to the archives at the earliest to avoid political damage. Motives will be attributed to the fact that while former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao has been exonerated, former prime minister Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee has been named in the report. This is very sad. The governmentââ¬â¢s Action Taken Report (ATR), according to media reports, indicts no one in particular and has little substance. If the government proceeds on this report it will lose credibility with both, the majority and the minority community. Media reports already indicate negative reactions from the Muslim community which has demanded an apology from Justice Liberhan for certain remarks made against their community. I have a feeling that few in the media will devote much time to the report after reading the ATR.
Votebank politics is a reality as both majority and minority votes have the capacity to swing electoral results. We saw this happening in favour of the BJP in 1999 and then for the Congress in 2004 and in 2009.
We are now in a state of flux and with the Left and the BJP losing ground it is inevitable that there will be a realignment of political forces. Religion and caste still play a major role in elections. Currently, the Congress has an advantage but in politics nothing can be taken for granted. The results of the Assembly elections in Haryana and the byelections in Uttar Pradesh are just two examples. In Uttar Pradesh, the minority votes from the Samajwadi Party can travel both to the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress. All three parties will do everything possible to woo the minority community as they may determine close to 150 seats out of 400 in Uttar Pradesh.
The major electoral battle will come in the Assembly elections in 2011-12 in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Kerala. Here the minority vote will be crucial for all the parties as these four states have the highest minority population in the country.
The Liberhan Report and its contents may well leave everyone confused and I donââ¬â¢t see any advantage in this for any party. The cases relating to the Babri Masjid are already filed in Lucknow and Rae Bareli and they will probably go on for another five to ten years. Thereafter, appeals will go to higher courts. I donââ¬â¢t think this issue should be allowed to fester for another decade.
The leakage of the report is a serious matter and I do not subscribe to the view that the home minister or Justice Liberhan had anything to do with it. Anyone who was part of the commission or in the home ministry could have leaked the report. Considering that so many pages had to be photocopied it was obviously someone who had easy access to the documents. The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, expressed regret and promised a full investigation into the leak. But I have grave doubts if anything will happen. Had anyone been serious about this lapse, the Central Bureau of Investigation would have been called in.
Sensitive issues have been leaked before and it will happen again. The media coverage of one year after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks may push out the Liberhan Report from the headlines. This will suit both the UPA and the Opposition, and the voting public will be saved from the trauma of living in the past.
The challenges on internal security will increase with time. Considering the constraints of a coalition government and the fluid situation in Pakistan, the UPA government and the home minister have done well.
The United States adopted strict security measures after the bombing of the World Trade Centre on September 9, 2001. After 26/11, whatever we do will not be enough. The situation in West Asia continues to be explosive and we all know the chaos in Afghanistan and Pakistan. There are media reports that the Pakistani prosecutors have charged seven men with planning and helping to carry out the 26/11 attacks. All this means very little and may well be happening to ensure that aid from the US is not disrupted. The US is in a difficult situation in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Various terrorist organisations are aware of this and their infiltration in the Pakistan government, the Pakistan Army and the Inter-Services Intelligence is extensive.
Things may get worse in the immediate future. Whilst we may engage the global powers to provide assistance, the ground reality is that bomb blasts occur daily in the cities of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. We face severe challenges from several fronts and whilst we have much to do there is little doubt in my mind that the UPA government is giving internal security all its attention. Compared to 26/11, there is a marked improvement in our capability to tackle the challenges for the future.
Arun Nehru is a former Union Minister