India's Parliament Disturbed Over Commission Report on 1992 Mosque Destruction

According to Time Magazine yesterday, a report delivered in June to India's Prime Minister, and leaked to the press last week, on a 1992 incident in Ayodhya, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, has created so much turmoil that both houses of Parliament have had to be adjouned repeatedly over the last two days. At issue is the report by the Liberhan Commission of Enquiry on the 1992 destruction of the Babri Mosque by Hindu extremists who believe the mosque was built on the birthplace of the Hindu god Ram. Politicians had exploited passions by promising to build a Temple to Ram on the site. BJP leaders have always claimed that the attack on the mosque was spontaneous. The new report, however, concludes that the attack was meticulously planned, and approved by senior members of the Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).