New Delhi: Defending the timing of the sting operation ‘Operation Janmabhoomi’ that not only completely unmasked right wing groups but also the whole justice system, the Cobrapost editor Aniruddha Bahal said that it is the duty of media to bring out truth before the nation particularly at time when elections are being held. Talking to reporters after screening the Operation Janmabhoomi’ on Friday at the National Press Club here, he said it is not meant to favour some (political parties) or disfavor to other parties. ‘Journalists do not think in terms of favoruing one party other party but work for unearthing truth,even if some political parties get benefit out of this ”.
Rubbishing the allegations that the operation meant to defame the BJP and to polarize the voters, he said Sangh Parivar particularly BJP has always been maintaining that the demolition of Babri Masjid was a spontaneous act that has been exposed and the operation did not drop the name of then Prime Minister P V Narsimha Rao and his cabinet colleague SB Chavan. He said it was a meticulously planned act and executed in very precise manner as 24 accused in the case confessed during the sting operation. When one correspondent pointed that the BJP has approached to the Election Commission for stopping the broadcast of the sting operation, he said that he did not get any communiqué from the EC in this regard. “We are not a political party nor are we contesting elections, so question of EC’s intervention doesn’t come”. He also said if EC sends any notice, Cobrapost will deal it legally. Stung by the exposure, BJP petitioned to EC to stop its screening. Party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said the sting operation was being used to divert attention from the real election issues. He accused the Congress of diverting the attention from price rise, corruption and development on which BJP is contesting the election. While the Congress came down hard the BJP saying it nailed the BJP’s lie about the Babri Masjid demolition.
The operation – carried out on two dozen accused in the demolition of historic mosque in Ayodhya – tracks the meticulous planning which went into the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992. This runs contrary to the Sangh Parivar’s claim that the mob which had gathered at Ayodhya on that day ran amuck despite the leadership trying to control it. It also unmasked the diabolic planning of Sangh Parivar in killing of karsevaks 1990. The operation revealed that Sakshi Maharaj, one of the frontline leaders of the movement has stated that the killings were orchestrated by vested interests in the movement who wanted human blood to give the movement a further push. Henceforth, it is believed that then Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav had ordered police to foil the karsevaks first attempt in 1990 that resulted in killing of karsevaks. However, Sakshi Maharaj made sensational claim that: “It was not Mulayam Singh who ordered firing. It was rather our own people who got our well-known people shot one by one”. He also squarely blamed Ashok Singhal for the killings.
The sting operation also revealed that then Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao had complicity in the mosque’s demolition as he had given his tacit support to the conspirators of the demolition.
Anirudh Bahal also slammed the CBI which is probing the demolition case and the Liberhan Commission that probed the demolition of Babri masjid. He said the agency failed to do proper investigation of the demolition case.