India: Babri mosque demolition report debated in parliament, Current affairs, NewAgeIslam.com

Current affairs

India: Babri mosque demolition report debated in parliament

Terming the Liberhan Commission report as "only a half-truth", Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Monday said that veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee was also responsible for the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992.

"Why was Atalji arrested (after the Dec 6, 1992 razing) if he was innocent? He was involved in all the meetings (leading up to the demolition). He staged protests at our home and office. How can you say that Atalji was not responsible for it. He has incited the feelings of people. He is not well and I expect him to get well soon. But as far as Ayodhya is concerned he was responsible," Mulayam Singh told the Lok Sabha.

The Liberhan Commission report, submitted in parliament Nov 24, had indicted Vajpayee along with senior BJP leader L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi for the demolition. The BJP had expressed shock at the indictment of Vajpayee.

"Right from the BJP to Shiv Sena, everybody was involved in that (demolition). This (Liberhan report) is only a half-truth. Was Shankersinh Vaghela not involved in it? Was Sanjay Nirupam not there? Everybody was there," he added.

"Had action been taken, the mosque would have been saved and communal harmony in the country would have remained intact," the Samajwadi Party chief said, adding: "The incident shattered national integration and fomented mutual distrust among Hindus and Muslims. This is dangerous."

Mulayam Singh also defended the firing on Kar Sevaks (Hindus who gathered for the Ram temple movement) in 1990 when he was Uttar Pradesh chief minister.

"To save the mosque (in 1990) our security forces had to fire. In the firing, 16 lives were lost. But more lives were lost in the riots in the aftermath of the mosque demolition. The full report should come out," he added.

http://newageislam.com/india--babri-mosque-demolition-report-debated-in-parliament/current-affairs/d/2198

Muslim vote splits as new issues gain focus, Islam and Politics, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and Politics

Muslim vote splits as new issues gain focus

The political adage is based on simple logic: The community tends to vote en masse for a particular party

By Ruhi Tewari

It will not be the first time that the Muslim vote has shifted. Immediately after the implementation of the Mandal Commission report, which provided reservations for the so-called other backward classes (OBCs) in government jobs, in 1989 by the then government headed by V.P. Singh, OBCs emerged as a powerful political entity, deserting the Congress.

It forged an alliance with Muslims under the so-called MY (Muslim Yadav) alliance in Central India that became the mainstay of support for Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, or SP, in Uttar Pradesh and Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal, or RJD, in Bihar. This combination had endured so far. What it also did was set back the Congress, which till then had projected itself as a party that could accomodate the interests of diverse communities under a secular ideology.

Muslims have continued to back the Congress in states such as Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, where parties such as the SP and the RJD do not have a critical mass, mostly shunning the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), known for its Hindu nationalist leanings.

However, there are indications that things may be about to change. Part of the reason is that the electoral hold of the SP and the RJD has weakened due to the emergence of rival political forces such as the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and anti-incumbency sentiment after prolonged years of rule in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Further, the decision of the Congress to go it alone rather than in a pre-poll alliance with either the SP or the RJD has transformed straight contests into quadrangular fights in the key states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

http://newageislam.com/muslim-vote-splits-as-new-issues-gain-focus---/islam-and-politics/d/1366