Thanks, Justice Liberhan, but no thanks

I understand these things take time. That is not my grouse against the M. S. Liberhan Report into the 1992-93 riots following the demolition of the Babri Masjid that has finally been handed over to the Prime Minister. I dislike the attitude of secrecy. Some of us had already questioned the lies of these leaders as recently as two months ago. (Those who are waiting for the report to be made public, please do take a look at the link.)

The report is not public and there are only titbits being shared with the people – people who are still waiting for justice for what happened 17 years ago, people who lost homes, families, dignity. People who became ‘others’. If it is being kept under wraps, then how are newspapers mentioning who has been indicted and for what? Here is the rogue’s gallery:

• L K Advani: For the rath yatra he took out to mobilise support to build a Ram temple where the masjid stood, and, on the fateful day, for failing to control the crowds he had helped mobilise
• Murli Manohar Joshi: Was present on the platform near Babri with Advani
• Uma Bharti: At the site, had reportedly expressed joy when the mosque was pulled down
• Sadhvi Rithambara: Allegedly incited mob
• Ashok Singhal: Was present, allegedly incited the frenzied mob
• Kalyan Singh: Was CM of UP, failed to control BJP’s kar sevaks
• Faizabad district officials: Severely indicted for their role during the demolition.
• P V Narasimha Rao: The PM of the Congress government at the Centre who allegedly failed to act in time and prevent demolition

It took 17 years, 399 sittings, 100 witnesses, 48 extensions and Rs 9 crore, most of this money was spent on staff salaries.

I am also angry that newspapers are making it into a Muslim issue. It is a Muslim issue in as much as the community was targeted during the riots, but the onus of justice is on the government, the judiciary, and the country. Indians, every Indian, must be involved in the process.

There were several people affected and many activists who worked to get justice. Now one of the reports in the TOI has a headline that has the gall to state: “Delay robs Liberhan report of fizz”. This is not some cola we are talking about. Did they talk about losing the fizz when the saffron fellows went hammering at the mosque? Did they mention that raking up an old Mughal era ‘wrong’ took away the fizz? No. In those days TOI had stopped covering the Srikrishna Committee hearings. This is a matter of national interest and national justice. You want your Response Department to get cola ads, try some other trick.

The judge says he is now free.

No, he is not. He has a responsibility since he has mentioned that the report got delayed due to the non-cooperation of some people. He will have to see it through. That is what the judiciary is about. It is not there to warm some benches in court. Should the government fail to act or act selectively, then he must be in the forefront to question it. This is not some private gupshup session where you can allege things but not give a damn about making those alleged culpable.

Has anyone noticed how the Times of India that flashes “Let truth prevail” on its masthead has started writing alleged in every report?

Worse, the 'alleged' is in italics. Is a newspaper not supposed to have the courage when it reports something? Does it only want to save itself from legal action should the situation arise? It alleges even for civic cases. I wonder how the reporters feel about their hard work and investigative skills going to waste. This is doubting your own women and men doing the legwork and making you the big newspaper you claim you are.

I have also seen columns with this execrable word. Don’t the columnists have any convictions? Aren’t their opinions important enough to them? Of course, there are some lightweights who become turncoats all too easily, but even so after all claims to be frank and fearless I cannot understand why they don’t protest.

A Times of India gem from the main front page report: “Incidentally, half of India’s T-20 squad was in primary school when Justice Liberhan was tasked with the probe.” What has it got to do with the Commission? Was any member of their families affected or part of the brigade that engineered the riots? There were several young people in this country who were children then, most have never been to primary school.

Another TOI nugget: Its Times Global page has a little homily over it: ‘Love all nations alike’! I think Karan Johar is their subconscious guest editor…

Uma Bharti ji, may I show you the light?

Dear Sadhviji:

You talk of upholding the truth, but you are lying that you don’t know who demolished the Babri Masjid. This is like saying Hanumanji, who you called your brother, did not burn Lanka.

You said, “...In fact, everyone was in the dark about the demolition except those who did it. We still don’t know who did it… Advaniji and (H V) Sheshadriji (of the RSS) have also said this…”

I will show you your own lies soon. Let us first get the reason for your new-found amnesia out of the way first.

Kalyan Singh cries he don’t know whodunit.

He said he was given to understand that a symbolic “kar seva’’ would be performed for the construction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya.

Oh yeah? A symbolic kar seva with thousands of kar sevaks gathered at the site and engraved bricks being transported? This does not happen overnight. They also had designer padukas made; interestingly, the guys who made these wooden sandals are Muslim. And it all started with Advaniji's rath yatra.

Advani starting the process in his Toyota caravan

So Umaji, you are being audacious. You think you can get away with it? Yes. Because our people don’t care. But some of us want to show you your face, not just in the mirror but in the muddied pool you have been a part of. You, dear lady, had told the Press Trust of India in February:

"I feel sorry for him (Kalyan Singh), as why he tendered an apology in the Babri Masjid demolition. After all it was the issue of Ram Temple, which made him the chief minister."

On the Ram temple, you said:

"The issue has ended on December 6, 1992 itself. It could be said that the demolition of Babri Masjid was a victory for the Hindu society and a defeat for the BJP. Now the Ram Temple could be built only through consensus."

Kar sevaks atop the mosque

Still in the dark?

Here’s some light:

The Indian Express did a detailed report on this ‘being in the dark’ business some years ago:

Anju Gupta, an IPS officer, was barely two months into her job when she was asked to take charge of L K Advani’s security on December 6, 1992. Her testimony to the police, to the CBI and to the Liberhan Commission, is perhaps the most damning against Advani.

Ms. Gupta was sitting next to Shri Advani on the dais. This is what she said:

• “Advani ke aate hi, mahaul garam ho gaya. Jaise hi Advani bolte gaye, mahaul garam hota gaya. (No sooner had Advani arrived than the situation became tense. And it worsened as he spoke.)”

• “I did not see any of these leaders making any effort to stop the demolition of the disputed structure. Advani was sad only about the fact that people were falling off the domes and dying.’’

• “When the first, second and third domes fell, Uma Bharti and Sadhvi Rithambara hugged each other and distributed sweets. They also hugged men. Uma Bharti and Sadhvi Rithambara expressed happiness by hugging Advani, Joshi and S C Dixit. After the domes fell, they congratulated each other.’’

If you don’t know who did it even after this, then you wouldn’t be aware that Advaniji, our country’s PM candidate from the BJP, was shouting on the loudspeaker asking the kar sevaks to come down. If he did not know who did it, then who was he calling out to?

To quote Ms. Gupta again:

• “Advani asked me what was happening elsewhere and I told him I did not know anything.’’

Now comes the real smart part. The magistrate decided it meant that Advani was ‘‘in the dark’’ about the demolition!

It was a slimy thing, but one does not expect any better. Ms Gupta said that he started appealing to kar sevaks to come down from the domes only after he learnt from her that the mosque was being demolished from below and that those on top were falling down and getting injured.

Kaam khatam, paisa hajam.

Remains of the day

Umaji, even if one gives you the benefit of doubt as zakat, you can see these pictures. This was 1992. Internet had not arrived in India. The photographers from the media all over the world could not possibly have sat with the same Photoshop software to create this only to keep you in the dark, right?

Look at these pictures closely and tell me who these people are. Indians. Hindutva goons. Kar sevaks. Gathered there for a purpose. With the blessings and incitement of the saffron party leaders.

Why did you hug Sadhvi Rithambara after the demolition if you didn’t know who did it? Do you applaud when someone wins a match if you don’t know who is playing? Get over it.

I hope you are biting your tongue right now. Yes. Do it hard. And hold your ears and seek the pardon of Lord Ram over whose shoulders you and your fellow liars ride. It would be an insult to him, but you have been insulting him for years.

You people are an insult to the nation. Next time, think a hundred times before you want to take credit for trying to usher in Hindu Raj. You might even forget that...you don't need light, but lightening.

All about Eve

This Devi prefers her devta’s dad

When we hear regressive statements by so-called progressive women, here comes a story of a woman in a Bihar village. Lalita Devi is 25. Her husband left their home in Dhamiapatti village in Madhubani district to work in a factory in Gujarat. While he was away, she had an affair with her father-in-law.


When the guy returned and saw his pita and patni locked together, there was much hullabaloo. Instead of feeling chastised and doing what one would expect a village woman to do, she declared that she was leaving him and their children to marry her papa-in-law. She made the decision.


It is possible to make several moral comments here, but why?

Uma’s Umang

Remember how the RSS had objected to Uma Bharti’s friendship with their pracharak K. Govindacharya, reminding them about celibacy?


The lady was sharp enough to continue with the party, marketing herself as the bold sanyasin. Now that she has competition in Sadhvi Pragya – younger and a bike rider – she has promptly got her mentor to join hands with her.


Very cunning move. If she was serious about his contribution, she would not have waited just ten days before the Madhya Pradesh elections. They are opposing the BJP, and as Govindacharya said,

“It’s time the nationalist forces pitched in. The two major conglomerates in Indian politics (Congress and BJP) have become pro-rich, pro-minority and pro-foreign... There’s a political space vacant and that is one of the reasons for me to join active politics again.”

Does this mean that their organisation Rashtriya Swabhiman Andolan (RSA) will be pro-poor, pro-majority, pro-swadeshi? This would statistically amount to 80 per cent of the country. Clearly, the nation is interested in other things.


Their new slogan is:

“Jab milenge roti-Ram, tab hi banenge poore kaam (when we get food and Ram together, then our work will be complete). So far, political parties have either spoken of Ram or of ‘roti’ but none has spoken of both together.”

Super. Kapda and makaan don’t matter. After all Lord Ram spent time in the forest in a little hut.


Does food then mean picking black berries?

Her time to show the jerks

I hear literary agents are wooing Sarah Palin. I can also hear the tut-tuts doing the rounds with a sneer. Oh dear, she will cash in on this, they will say. Sure as hell she will, as she must.


If others can capitalise on her “blonde moment” and her banality, then so can she. Forget her politics, whatever it may be if it is at all, she has indeed led an interesting life that meandered towards the mundane to again catapult her to the limelight.


Chances of some academics pontificating on the ‘Sarah factor’ filling up tomes that will grace library shelves are possible. We already got glimpses of them in a slew of serious thesis-type articles. After all, they have done Barbie and Madonna with much fervour, so what will stop them from doing Sarah? They will peel her layer upon layer. It begs the question: does one invest so much in so little?


We have our reasons for understanding fluff. I am a great believer in analysing pop culture, and anything that fits into the genre – people, ideas, events – are grist for the writer’s mill.


She may do a whitewash job, she may play to the gallery, she may come up with a sob story, she may rant against the “jerks”. But it is her story and she has as much a right to tell it as anyone else.


People make millions just flashing stained skirts to show as achievement. Some get invited to pose for Playboy; others go on lecture tours and earn big bucks.


Sarah Palin’s may not be a great story but for the naysayers here’s a sop: You got Obama because she was so not on, right?

She flexes their muscles

BJP’s candidate from Jodhpur, Suryakanta Vyas, looks like the sort of woman you would see making dung cakes, not walking around with beefcakes. She has done just that. Roped in these bodybuilders to campaign for her. Since the party has a bare-bone manifesto, she is at least providing the meat.