After 17 years, Liberhan Babri report with Centre

The report on the December 6, 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya was submitted by retired judge M.S. Liberhan to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on Tuesday. It took the commission of inquiry headed by Justice Liberhan 17 years and 48 extensions to arrive at this point.

The government says it is prepared for a full debate on the report in the Budget Session of Parliament, which begins on July 2. It will table the report, along with the action taken report, within the session, which ends on August 7.

The BJP, meanwhile, appears to have already gone on the defensive. Government and Congress sources said the BJP would be completely isolated on this issue, adding that no party in the NDA, barring the Shiv Sena, would support it.

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275 Prime Minister Nukes them all

The two-week long political stalemate ended on Tuesday after a resounding victory for the Manmohan Singh government in the crucial trust vote in the Lok Sabha, which saw a realignment of political parties, heated debates and allegations of money power. In the end, the government won by a comfortable margin.

The victory, which put the Prime Minister firmly in the saddle, will not merely push the country towards the nuclear club, but also enable the government to move ahead with economic reforms.

In his moment of glory, the Prime Minister targeted the Left. “They wanted me to behave like a slave,” his reply to the Lok Sabha debate read.

Though the stalemate began from July 9 after the Left withdrew support to the government, the process of instability had started much earlier, after the government made it clear that it was not backing off from the nuclear deal with the United States.

At the end of the day on Tuesday, the UPA raced ahead in the numbers game. Those in favour of the motion stood at 275, and those opposed it numbered 256. The government won by 19 votes. Altogether 10 members were either absent or abstained from voting.

There were also indications that, in a major blow to the saffron camp, at least nine NDA MPs defied the whip to vote for the motion.

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