Aiyar strongly defended Rajiv Gandhi and claimed the latter did not do any wrongdoing in the Ayodhya incident.
Just days before the consecration ceremony at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, controversial Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar has claimed that the Babri Masjid would still be standing had Rajiv Gandhi been the Prime Minister instead of P.V. Narasimha Rao in 1992.
Trying to shield Gandhi but determined to blame the Congress for the developments that led to the December 6, 1992 incidents, Aiyar not only blamed Rao but also talked about an alleged “nexus” between Congress leaders R.K. Dhawan and M.L. Fotedar which misled Gandhi to allow ‘shilanyas’ of a new Ram temple. He also slammed former Congress leader Arun Nehru for plotting a virtual con spiracy for opening of the locks on the structure’s gate in Ayodhya site.’
At the launch of his book “The Rajiv I Knew And Why He Was India’s Most Misunderstood Prime Minister”, published by Juggernaut, the former diplomat also talked about the internal developments in the BJP, claiming that the BJP of Atal Behari Vajpayee was “stolen” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Admitting that it was the Congress that opened the locks in Ayodhya and negotiated with L.K. Advani, things that the BJP took advantage of, Aiyar strongly defended Rajiv Gandhi and claimed the latter did not do any wrongdoing. Except for the ‘shilaniyas’ Rajiv was not involved in things like opening the locks, negotiating with the BJP and going dumb when the domes were being knocked down. “Rajiv is not to be blamed but the Congress is to be blamed,” he said in a discussion with senior journalist Vir
Sanghvi.
“He [Gandhi] could have easily declared President’s rule the minute these people climbed the dome and used the 125 companies…who were waiting outside Ayodhya to enter the premises and clear it of these people who destroyed the mosque. I don’t think karsevaks would have been allowed into Ayodhya,” he said.
Blaming Arun Nehru, then a member of the Congress, for opening of the locks, Aiyar called the former leader a “BJP plant” as the leader later joined the saffron outfit. Aiyar claimed that Ram Janmabhoomi, which was a local is sue at that time, was very much on the mind of Nehru, who had studied in a Lucknow school. The book also talks about the India-Sri Lanka (Rajiv-Jay awardene) Accord, the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) and the Shah Bano case. Asked whether it was fair to say that the Congress made the mistakes of opening the locks in Ayodhya and negotiating with L.K. Advani, things that the BJP took advantage of, Aiyar said, “You are absolutely right that the Congress did all this but I am also right — who in the Congress?” “My sole point is that the only person not involved in all
this, except for the ‘shilaniyas’ in the middle of the election, was Rajiv. He did not open the locks, he did not negotiate with the BJP and did not go dumb when the domes were being knocked down. Rajiv is not to be blamed but the Congress is to be blamed,” he stressed.