Congress welcomes revival of conspiracy charges in Babri demolition

New Delhi, April 19 (IANS) The Congress on Wednesday welcomed the revival of conspiracy charges against senior BJP and VHP leaders in the demolition of the Babri mosque, and demanded speedy trial in the case.

"The law of the land has prevailed. We hope that there will be speedy trial and all the guilty will be punished and face the consequences," Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha told IANS.

"It is a known fact that the Babri demolition as a spontaneous reaction has been proven wrong and it was indeed a political conspiracy," he said.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday revived the conspiracy charge in the Babri Masjid demolition case against senior BJP leaders L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Kalyan Singh and Uma Bharti, among others after the CBI petitioned it for restoring criminal conspiracy charges.

Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Manish Tiwari said that the decision has put Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "morality quotient" on test.

Asked if those holding constitutional posts including Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti and Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh should resign following the decision, he said the Congress would leave it to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's wisdom.

"Our Prime Minister doesn't get tired of speaking of morality and moral high ground. This decision would test his moral standards. We leave it to his wisdom how he reacts to this and whether a chargesheeted minister should remain in his cabinet or not," Tiwari said.

Reacting to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's jibe that if filing of chargesheet or FIR should become a standard for resignation, half of Congress' Chief Ministers would have to go, Tiwari said: "Jaitley ji has forgotten that Congress ministers have resigned even at mere allegations on moral grounds, let alone filing of FIR or chargesheet."

He also questioned the morality behind appointing Kalyan Singh, who was Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh when Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992, as a Governor.

"There is not an iota of morality in this government," he added.

Tiwari said it was not right to compare the Babri Masjid demolition and the ensuing anti-Muslim riots to anti-Sikh riots of 1984 which happened when Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister, and allegedly did nothing to prevent the riots.

"You cannot compare it with 1984 incident. The Congress has repeatedly expressed regret over what happened in 1984. Did the BJP ever apologise even once for the pogroms that happened under its watch?" he said.