Maha: BJP MLA mocks Sena over Babri Masjid demolition, calls its role ‘non-cognisable’

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Maharashtra BJP MLA Ashish Shelar on Tuesday mocked the Shiv Sena over the latter’s claim that its workers played an active role in bringing down the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, and asked why in that case names of functionaries of the Uddhav Thackeray-led party were missing in the Liberhan Commission set up to inquire into the demolition.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had recently launched a blistering attack on the BJP and had asked where its leaders were hiding when the disputed structure was torn down by ‘karsevaks’ in 1992.

“If the Shiv Sena was so involved in bringing down Babri Masjid, why is its name not mentioned in the Liberhan Ayodhya Commission of Inquiry that was set up by the then Union government led by the Congress,” Shelar told reporters here.

“We are even ready to accept the presence of Sena workers on the ground if a non-cognisable complaint was registered at the Faizabad police station at that time. The Sena is completely non-cognisable (of no consequence) in this whole episode,” Shelar added.

Shelar said he himself, the Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis and scores of (RSS-affiliated) Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad functionaries were present at the time in Ayodhya.

“(Sena Rajya Sabha MP) Sanjay Raut should inform us what was Uddhav Thackeray doing at the time of demolition of the Babri mosque. Why did the plane carrying Shiv Sena leaders like Manohar Joshi and Leeladhar Dhake get diverted and why did they reach much after the demolition was completed,” Shelar questioned.

Shelar said in 2018, Thackeray had claimed the priority of every Hindu was construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya over government formation, but post Maharashtra Assembly polls in late 2019, the latter and his party moved over to the NCP-Congress camp “to snatch power after backstabbing the BJP”.

The then BJP government in Uttar Pradesh under Kalyan Singh fell for the cause of the Ram Temple, and Thackeray can learn something from it, Shelar added.