RAO PERFORMED PUJA TILL BABRI MASJID WAS PULLED DOWN, WRITES NAYAR

Yet another book has levelled an allegation that then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao had connived at the demolition of Babri Masjid, claiming that the late Prime Minister went on to sit at a puja when the karsevaks began pulling the structure down and rose only when it was over. The charge relating to the demolition on Dec 6, 1992 has been made by eminent journalist Kuldip Nayar in his soon-to-be released autobiography Beyond the Lines being brought out by Roli Books. “My information was that Rao had connived at the demolition. He sat at puja when the karsevaks began pulling down the mosque and rose only when the last stone had been removed.”

“Madhu Limaye (late socialist leader) later told me that during the puja, Rao’s aide whispered in his ears that the masjid had been demolished. Within seconds, the puja was over,” he said in a chapter on ‘Narasimha Rao’s Government’ in the book. P V Ranga Rao, son of the late Prime Minister, however strongly dismissed the claim as “unbelievable and untenable”. “Rao’s government will always be held responsible for the demolition of the Babri Masjid. The curious thing was that he was conscious of such an eventuality but did virtually nothing to avert it,” Nayar said.