NEW DELHI: Both Houses of Parliament were rocked and adjourned for the day on Monday over the ‘leak’ of portions of the Liberhan Commission Report on the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992.
The disclosed portions said the report “indicted” not only regular targets L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi but also former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
Result: For the first time ever, Leader of Opposition L K Advani gave a motion for suspension of Question Hour in Lok Sabha (LS), demanding immediate tabling of the report.
The media leak, and the brouhaha in Parliament, comes in the wake of a united Opposition forcing the Government to amend the Sugarcane Ordinance, which was a major setback to the UPA. On Monday, too, Advani was supported by the CPM and BJD on his demand for immediate tabling of the report.
The BJP Parliamentary Party is meeting on Tuesday morning to decide on the strategy to be adopted in Parliament. The party top-brass that had gone into a huddle soon after Parliament was adjourned, decided that both the Houses would not be allowed to function for the rest of the day, unless the Commission report was tabled.
Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha, Advani said, ‘‘I had said the day of demolition was the saddest day of my life. I was shocked to see the indictment. If the indictment was just against me, I would have taken it as a challenge. If I was accused of mobilisation, which could have resulted in the demolition, it was understandable.
But to use such a strong term as indictment has pained me. There were attempts to indict me even in the Hawala case.
But how could former prime minister Atal Behari have been indicted?’’ He was anguished over the dragging in of the name of Vajpayee.
On his part, describing the leak as unfortunate, Union Home Minister Chidambaram said, ‘‘There is only one copy of the report. It is in my custody.
No one has spoken to any journalist.’’ Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, raising the issue, also demanded immediate tabling of the report.
