M A I N   N E W S

Babri report leak throws Parliament into tumult
Table the report now, demands angry Opposition
Aditi Tandon and Ashok Tuteja
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 23
Uproar over the leaked Liberhan Commission report, which allegedly indicts the BJP top brass for the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992, today severely strained proceedings in Parliament, with both Houses adjourning for the day without virtually transacting any business.

Slamming the government for the delay in tabling the report and its selective leak to the media, BJP leaders in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha - LK Advani and Arun Jaitley --- moved notices for suspension of question hour and sought explanation from the government on the leak, terming it a “breach of privilege of the House.”

Speaker Meira Kumar declined the notices but allowed the members to speak on the issue. Advani demanded that the government should immediately table the Liberhan report along with the action taken report (ATR) as promised by the Home Minister in June when Justice MS Liberhan (retd) submitted the report.

A shocked Advani referred with grief to insinuations on the alleged involvement of Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the demolition and dared the government to come clean on the issue.

“Now that the report has been leaked, you have a moral obligation to table it,” Advani told P. Chidambaram, who assured the House that the report and the ATR would be tabled during this session.

Chidambaram said: “I can assure the House that there is only one copy of the Liberhan report in the Home Ministry and it is in safe custody. No one from the Ministry of Home Affairs has spoken to any journalist about the report.” He termed the newspaper report as “unfortunate”, pending the government’s intention to table it in the House.

Earlier in the Lok Sabha, the Opposition was one in criticising the government for the delay in bringing the Liberhan report to Parliament and for leaking it to the media with Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh warning of a 1992 like situation if there was any further delay.

He asked why the government was hesitant to table the report in the House. Mulayam, however, kept patting himself for “trying to save the masjid”, labelling the BJP as the demolisher and SP as the saviour.

Joining the chorus were Dara Singh Chauhan of the BSP; Basudeb Acharia of the CPM and Arjun Sethi of the BJD, all reminding the government of the “uncalled for” longevity of the commission.

While the Lok Sabha saw two adjournments on the issue, the Rajya Sabha saw pandemonium with BJP members trooping into the well of the House, raising slogans against the government. Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley sought suspension of question hour and an inquiry into the leak out , following which Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Prithviraj Chavan said the report would be tabled during the current session.

Chavan repudiated the Opposition charge that the report had been leaked by the Home Ministry. He said the government was prepared to make a statement on the issue.This did not cut ice with the BJP members who refused to resume their seats, forcing the Chairman to adjourn the House till 12 noon.

The House resumed with the BJP returning in a belligerent mood and demanding the tabling of the report. It was supported, this time, by Amar Singh of the SP, Sitaram Yechuri of the CPM, D Raja of the CPI and Shivanand Tiwari of the JDU.

The chaos got Chidambaram to assure the Rajya Sabha that the Liberhan report would be tabled in the current session.

Liberhan denies leak
Naveen S Garewal
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 23
Denying as ridiculous any suggestion that the Liberhan Commission Report could have been leaked from the commission, retired Chief Justice Manmohan Singh Liberhan has asked the media to refrain from indulging in mud slinging and wait for the report to be tabled before assigning motives to him or the report.

An infuriated Justice Liberhan told mediapersons outside his Chandigarh residence that the media had acted “unfairly” by pointing fingers at him for the alleged “leak”. Confronting a mediaperson, he said, "What do you mean by asking if I have leaked the report? Are you questioning my integrity? I’m a person with character and would never leak the report — and never to the media."

He further suggested that whosoever believed that they had an insight into the report needed to look at the report to see how much half truths they were incorporating in their news coverage. “I am very sad to see what has happened. Why don’t you ask the mediapersons, claiming to have copies of the report, where they got it?” he said, advising those present to follow ethics of journalism and to do their homework before attributing motives.

While Justice Liberhan refused to get embroiled in any controversy, yet he was livid at the suggestion that he was trying to draw any mileage from the report.

A source close to this former Tamil Naidu High Court Chief Justice, however, said that the media was conveniently playing to the tune of those indicted by the report by focusing on the “leak” rather than the contents of the report. “It would be unfortunate if the ruckus created over the issue of the alleged leak overtakes the content of the report.”

Sources pointed out that though the authenticity of the “allegedly” leaked report would only be verified after it was tabled in Parliament, it was unlikely that anyone in the commission would leak it days before it was to be tabled. “If at all there would be a leak, logically it would have happened in June when the report was submitted to the Prime Minister. Why now?”

The pandemonium in both houses of Parliament on the issue of the leak appears to be an attempt to deflect from the damning content and to divert attention to irrelevant matters. To foil this plan of hijacking the issue, the source asked the nation to come together and scan the contents of the report rather than lose sight of the content over a frivolous matter.

On July 1, 2009, The Tribune carried the first-ever report on the contents of the Liberhan Commission report after it was presented to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. This was followed by an exclusive interview with Justice Liberhan.