NEW DELHI: The unlocking of Babri Masjid gates in 1986 was orchestrated by “BJP mole” Arun Nehru, and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was not to be blamed for it, according to former Union minister and senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar.
Had Rajiv Gandhi been alive and been the prime minister instead of PV Narasimha Rao, he would never have allowed karsevaks into Ayodhya, Aiyar remarked during the launch of his book, ‘The Rajiv I Knew And Why He Was India’s Most Misunderstood Prime Minister’, published by Juggernaut.
Speaking about the demolition of Babri Masjid by karsevaks in December 1992, Aiyar said that Gandhi would not have negotiated with the BJP the way Rao did, and allowed kar sevaks in Ayodhya . “Gandhi could have easily declared President’s rule the minute these people climbed the dome and used the 125 companies... who were waiting outside Ayodhya to enter the premises and clear it of the people who destroyed the mosque. I don’t think karsevaks would have been allowed into Ayodhya,” he said.
The former diplomat asserted that it was the Congress to be blamed for the events that led to demolition of the mosque. “My sole point is that the only person not involved in all this, except for the ‘shilaniyas’ in the middle of the election, was Rajiv. He did not open the locks; he did not negotiate with the BJP, and did not go dumb when the domes were being knocked down. Rajiv is not to be blamed but the Congress is to be blamed,” he said.
It was Arun Nehru, the cousin of Rajiv Gandhi, who was behind the opening of the locks, said Aiyar.
“Arun Nehru used his power within the party to get an unknown man, Veer Bahadur Singh, elected as the chief minister. As I described in the book, the first thing Singh did was to go to Ayodhya and meet Deoki Nandan Agarwal of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and others. He obtained a petition from them, which said locks had not been put on the gates by judicial order but by executive order,” said the Congress leader.
Thereafter, when the matter came up before the district sessions judge of Faizabad on February 1, 1986, the district magistrate and the senior superintendent of police affirmed that the locks were not necessary for preserving public peace, and law and order, he said.
“The locks were opened and a huge number of Hindu pilgrims, who had been gathered on purpose, surged in and Rajiv knew nothing about it. So yes, there was a Congress hand in the opening of the locks, but that Congress person knew that Rajiv Gandhi would never have allowed the opening of those locks, cancelling the executive order and that is why he kept it from Rajiv,” claimed Aiyar.
The end of the story is that Arun Nehru joined the BJP, and hence, he was a “BJP plant”, Aiyar said.
