The Home Minister was quoting from an article he had written in a national daily three weeks after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992. He has, thus, repeated and endorsed an untruth. The whole country is aware of the infamous rath yatra that he conducted with the shrill sloganeering "Mandir Vahee Banayenge" (the temple will be built on the same spot where Babri Masjid stands). The ghastly communal riots that followed, the trail of death and destruction that this rath yatra left behind is difficult to erase from people's memory.

Damning Chargesheet

That his crocodile tears are just that, a blatant untruth, is confirmed by the chargesheet framed by the designated court on September 9, 1997 in the case concerning the criminal conspiracy to demolish Babri Masjid. The chargesheet states:

" On 5-12-92 a secret meeting was held at the house of Sh. Vinay Katiyar which was attended by Sh. Lal Krishan Advani, Pawan Kumar Pandey and a final decision to demolish the disputed structure was taken. Their argument was that there was a ban on construction not on demolition, and Accused No 1 to 38 assembled near Ram Janam Bhoomi/Babri Masjid on 6-12-92 and Sh. Lal Krishan Advani categorically said in his public speech, before the demolition of the disputed structure that "Today is the last day of Kar Seva. Kar Sewaks would perform last Kar Seva." When he came to know that a Central Force was proceeding from Faizabad to Ayodhya, then he asked the public to block the National Highway so that the Central Forces do not reach the Ram Janmabhoomi. Prosecution has also contended that when the disputed structure was being pulled down Sh. Advani asked Kalyan Singh not to tender his resignation till the disputed structure is completely pulled down....."

Further, the chargesheet states: "In this background Shri Lal Krishan Advani and Shri Murli Manohar Joshi started for Ayodhya from New Delhi on 1.11.92 via Varanasi and Mathura. On 1.12.92 Shri Advani said in Kanpur that Kar Sewa does not mean Bhajan and Kirtan but it is meant for starting construction of the Ram Mandir. Dr. Joshi asked the Central Government to withdraw the Central Forces and he further said that his party would face any hindrance whatsoever that comes in the way of construction of the Ram Mandir. On 2.12.92 Shri Advani said in Varanasi that the State Government would not use force of any kind on Kar Sewaks. During the same time Sadhiv Ritambhra said at Nagpur, Balharasha and Wardha that the Babri Masjid is a Mandir. A Mandir shall be constructed there with struggle. She asked Kar Sewaks to reach Ayodhya for construction of the Mandir."

On this basis, the court concludes that: "From our description it is concluded that in the present case a criminal conspiracy to demolish the disputed structure of the Ram Janam Bhoomi/Babri Masjid was hatched by the accused persons in the beginning of 1990, and was completed on 6.12.92. Shri Lal Krishan Advani and others hatched criminal conspiracies to demolish the disputed premises on different times at different places. Therefore, I find a prima facie case to charge S/Shri Bala Saheb Thakre, Shri Lal Krishan Advani, Shri Kalyan Singh, Shri Vinay Katiyar..." (the list continues with Shri Murli Manohar Joshi, Ms. Uma Bharati, Ms.Sadhvi Ritambari etc.)

Given this, it is indeed amazing that Mr. Advani should choose to once again mislead the country through his double-speak.

Justifying Atrocities

Showing a mastery of Machavellian manipulation, Mr. Advani chose to skirt the main thrust of the entire debate in Parliament on the growing atrocities against the minorities,and in particular against the Christians. Speaker after speaker, from every party that upholds secularism as a basic tenet of the modern Indian state, castigated the present government at the centre, and the BJP-led governments in various states where such atrocities are growing at an alarming pace. Particular mention was made of Gujarat.

While Mr. Advani was found singularly silent in condemning such incidents, it is instructive to recall the words of the Director General of Police of Gujarat, uttered in the course of an interview to the magazine Communalism Combat, given as early as October 8, 1998:

"One thing was clear in the pattern of incidents. It was the activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal who were taking the law into their own hands, which posed a serious danger to peace in Gujarat. Many of the attacks on the minorities were after these organisations had whipped up local passions of conversions (by Christian missionaries) and allegedly forced inter-religious marriages.... our investigations revealed that in most cases these were entirely baseless allegations."

Despite this, Mr. Advani has gone on record to state that: "There is no law and order problem in Gujarat". Three days after the Home Minister made this statement, the DGP of Gujarat said that, "incidents of communal violence had increased manifold over the last few months; recently the crime rate in the State had increased by as much as 9.6 per cent. On an average, 39 crimes of serious nature like murder, rape and dacoity were reported in the State every day."

By such blatant defence of the BJP government in Gujarat and the Bajrang Dal and the VHP, Mr. Advani has grossly violated his oath of office. While being sworn in as the Home Minister, Mr. Advani like all others taking the oath, swore to "do right to all manner of people in accordance with the Constitution and the Law without fear or favour, affection or ill-will."

Habitual Distortions

The obsession with the pernicious ideology of `Hindu Rashtra', compels Mr. Advani not only to defend inhuman crimes but also to distort and manipulate historical events and facts to further his "mission". In his speech in Parliament, he not only defended the forcible imposition of `saraswati vandana' and `vande mataram', but also repeated his atrocious claim that Buddhism is not a separate religion but an integral part of Hinduism. His singular effort was to appropriate all diversity and plurality of India into his definition of Hinduism. While highlighting `saraswati vandana', Mr. Advani would be loath to admit that Charvaka and his atheistic negation of the existence of God is also a part of the Indian tradition.

What clearly emerges from these efforts is the fact that the RSS-BJP vision of India is not only one based on religious intolerance and hatred of the highest order, but also one which endorses and cements the tyrannical caste oppression in the brahmanical version of Hinduism.

In answer to Mr. Advani, many many decades ago, Vivekananda hads said, "Without the Buddhist revolution what would have delivered the suffering millions of lower classes from the

In answer to Mr. Advani many many decades ago, Vivekanda had said: "Without the Buddhist revolution, what would have delivered the suffering millions of lower classes from the violent tyrannies of the influential higher castes." (Works, vol-4, pp-462).

On the question of the current campaign against the minorities on the question of the so-called "forcible conversions", Vivekananda had this to say: "(Mohammedanism) came as a message for the masses... the first message was equality. There is one religion -- love. No more question of race, colour, (or) anything else." (Works, vol-1, pp-483)

Further, "My experience is that if ever any religion approached this equality in any appreciable manner, it is Islam and Islam alone." (Works, vol-6, pp-415)

"The Mohammedan conquest of India came as a salvation to the downtrodden, to the poor. That is why one fifth of our people have become Mohammedans." (Works, vol-3, p-294)

Therefore, he shaped his vision of India's future by stating: "I see in my mind's eye the future perfect India arising out of its chaos and strife, glorious and invincible with Vendanta brain and Islam body." (Works, Vol-6, pp-416)