The Hindu : National : I said it in a lighter vein: Vajpayee

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Friday, Feb 18, 2005

National

National

I said it in a lighter vein: Vajpayee

NEW DELHI, FEB. 17 "I don't know what will happen there tomorrow," the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, is quoted as having said in Lucknow on December 5, 1992, a day before the disputed structure was demolished, according to a CD recently placed before the Liberhan Commission probing the incident.

As per details of the speeches recorded on the compact disc, which have been published in the latest issue of the Hindi newsmagazine Outlook, Mr. Vajpayee purportedly said: "I do not know what will happen there [Ayodhya] tomorrow. I wanted to go to Ayodhya, but I have been asked to return to Delhi."

Without referring to the disputed structure, Mr. Vajpayee also reportedly said in his speech that "nobody can sit on sharp stones while singing devotional songs. The earth will have to be levelled and made suitable for sitting."

In his reaction to the story, Mr. Vajpayee accepted, in a separate interview to the magazine, that he had made the speech but said the tone of his address was in a lighter vein and not provocative and that he had no inkling that some people would pull down the structure.

Mr. Vajpayee said he had not referred to the structure in his speech and had only talked about levelling the ground.

The BJP president, L.K. Advani, had then said in Lucknow on the same day that the over one lakh `kar sevaks' assembled in Ayodhya had not violated any court order and that if "sacrifice has to be made to fulfil the resolve, we will do it. If Government has to be sacrifices, it will be done but we will not give up the conduct of discharging our responsibility."— PTI

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